Foster Auditorium is a multi-purpose facility at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population o ...

. It was built in 1939 as a

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

project and has been used for Alabama basketball, women's sports (in the 1970s and 1980s), graduations, lectures, concerts, and other large gatherings, including registration. Its status as the largest indoor building on campus came to an end in 1968 with the opening of the Memorial Coliseum. The building housed the Department of Kinesiology until 2006. In April 2009, the University announced a major renovation for the auditorium. After the renovation, the Crimson Tide women's basketball and volleyball programs moved back to Foster Auditorium, their original home. The facility is named for Richard Clarke Foster, president of the University of Alabama from 1937 to 1941. The building was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

on April 5, 2005, for its role as the site of Governor George Wallace's "

Stand in the Schoolhouse Door The Stand in the Schoolhouse Door took place at Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama on June 11, 1963. George Wallace, the Governor of Alabama, in a symbolic attempt to keep his inaugural promise of " segregation now, segregation tom ...

" opposing actions to desegregate the university.

Sports history

Foster Auditorium was the site of a full court shot during the January 4, 1955 basketball game between the University of Alabama and the University of North Carolina. Alabama player George Linn made the 84 foot 11 inch shot at the end of the first half. The shot was featured in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'', and is commemorated at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. A brass marker was placed in the gym floor to indicate the location of the shot.

Stand in the Schoolhouse Door

More than any other event, Foster Auditorium is known as the site of the "

" incident. On June 11, 1963, Governor

George C. Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...

, making good on a campaign pledge to not allow integration of the university, stood in the doorway of the building on the day of registration. He was attempting to block two black students, Vivian Malone and

James Hood James Alexander Hood (November 10, 1942 – January 17, 2013) was one of the first African Americans to enroll at the University of Alabama in 1963, and was made famous when Alabama Governor George Wallace attempted to block him and fellow ...

, from enrolling at the university. President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

called on the Alabama

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

to forcibly allow the students to enter the building if need be. Calling it "an unwelcomed, unwanted, unwarranted and force-induced intrusion upon the campus," Wallace denounced the actions, but, seeing as he could not win against the combined efforts of the Guard, federal marshals and Deputy

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

Nicholas Katzenbach Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach (January 17, 1922 – May 8, 2012) was an American lawyer who served as United States Attorney General during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. He previously served as United States Deputy Attorney General u ...

, Wallace stepped aside, returning to the state capital as Malone and Hood entered for registration. The incident is seen as one of the seminal events in the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

in America. The scene was depicted (with artistic liberties taken) in the 1994 film '' Forrest Gump''. The courtyard at the auditorium's rear entrance (the actual "schoolhouse door" in which Wallace stood, as opposed to its front facade, where white students were allowed to enter) was dedicated in 2013 as the Malone-Hood Plaza in honor of James Hood and Vivian Malone. The Plaza is the site of the

Autherine Lucy Autherine Juanita Lucy (October 5, 1929 – March 2, 2022) was an American activist who was the first African-American student to attend the University of Alabama, in 1956. Her expulsion from the institution later that year led to the university' ...

Clock Tower, named for the first black student to attend the University.

References

External links

A Sleight of History: University of Alabama's Foster Auditorium
{{George Wallace Alabama Crimson Tide basketball venues National Historic Landmarks in Alabama College basketball venues in the United States College volleyball venues in the United States Sports venues in Tuscaloosa, Alabama Basketball venues in Alabama Buildings and structures completed in 1939 National Register of Historic Places in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama African-American history of Alabama University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama 1939 establishments in Alabama Sports venues completed in 1939 Event venues on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama University and college buildings completed in 1939

Sports history

Stand in the Schoolhouse Door

See also

References

External links