Governor George Wallace Attempting to Block Integration at the University of Alabama, June 11, 1963

    Photograph showing Gov. Wallace standing defiantly at a door while being confronted by Deputy U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach.
    Courtesy of Library of Congress, Leffler, Warren K., U.S. News & World Report : Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 11 June 1963

    Description

    Known as the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door," Alabama Governor George Wallace stood in front of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama on June 11, 1963, to stop the enrollment of African-American students Vivan Malone and James Hood. He was being confronted by Deputy U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach. Wallace desperately wanted to preserve segregation, but his action was in vain. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy's administration ordered the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division from Ft. Benning, Georgia, to be prepared to enforce the racial integration of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, which they were able to do. 

    Source-Dependent Questions

    • Describe what is happening in the image. What are the governor, police officers and press nonverbally communicating?
    • What does it communicate to voters that the governor of Alabama would personally block students from entering the University of Alabama?
    • Using this source and others you have already analyzed in this text set, reflect on the way southern state governments reacted to calls for desegregation.

    Citation Information

    Leffler, Warren K., U.S. News & World Report : Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 11 June 1963. Courtesy of Library of Congress

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