University of Alabama will take Klansman's name off building now named for civil rights hero

The University of Alabama Board of Trustees on Friday voted to reverse a decision that would have renamed a campus building after the school's first Black student and a former governor who was an officer in the Ku Klux Klan.

The education building was set to be renamed Lucy-Graves Hall in honor of Autherine Lucy Foster, who enrolled at UA for three days in 1956 before she was expelled, and former Gov. Bibb Graves, who served as a chief officer at a Montgomery chapter of the KKK.

But the decision to retain Graves' name drew a storm of criticism from students, faculty and alumni who argued it tainted her legacy. 

Trustee John England Jr. said during the meeting that the controversy had obscured their goal of honoring Lucy Foster, who endured violence after enrolling on the campus in 1956. 

Now it will be called Autherine Lucy Hall, reflecting her name when she enrolled as a student.  

"We’ve heard enough from those whose opinions matter to us — students, faculty, staff  — that we can do that in a better way than what we’ve done," England said. 

BACKGROUND: University of Alabama honors first Black student next to former KKK leader. Many are outraged.

Lucy Foster enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Alabama in 1956. She had to be driven to classes, and after leaving one class, her car was pelted with rocks by a white mob. The school suspended her, then expelled her on a technicality. 

The university rescinded Lucy Foster's expulsion in 1988. She returned to Alabama and earned a master's degree in 1992. 

Graves served two terms as Alabama governor, from 1927 to 1931 and again from 1935 to 1939. As governor he championed new spending on public programs, including infrastructure and education. Some of that spending benefited Black Alabamians but did little to change the fundamental inequities of Jim Crow education. 

The governor also served as Grand Cyclops in the Montgomery chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and lobbied against anti-Klan legislation in the Legislature. In 1927, Graves undermined an investigation of KKK violence in Crenshaw County led by then-Attorney General Charlie McCall. Graves slashed McCall's budget; refused to acknowledge complaints of witness intimidation by the Klan; and may have collaborated with a Grand Dragon to undermine the cases. 

WHO WAS BIBB GRAVES? Controversy sparks retelling of Graves' history with KKK

After the prosecution collapsed, Graves named Ira Thompson, who had been a Klan official and one of some 44 men indicted in Crenshaw, as the county's solicitor. 

The board did not discuss its exact reasons for changing the name. But the Crimson White, the university's school newspaper, and several members of Alabama faculty had criticized the decision to retain Graves' name. 

“She was threatened and her safety was at risk, just for going to classes,” recent graduate Lauren Upton previously told the Paste BN Network. “We need to think about the fact that we're putting her name next to somebody who was part of an organization that enabled the behavior that made her scared for her life.”

Alabama State University, Jacksonville State University and Troy University have removed or have made plans to remove Graves' name from campus buildings in recent years. The University of Alabama has also renamed buildings that had borne the names of individuals tied to slavery or segregation. 

Contributing: Christine Fernando, Paste BN. Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brian Lyman at 334-240-0185 or blyman@gannett.com.