James Hood

James Hood (born c. 1942 in Gadsden; died January 17, 2013 in Gadsden) was one of the first African American students to enroll at the University of Alabama.

On June 11, 1963, Governor George Wallace made his infamous "stand in the schoolhouse door." He stood in the front entrance of Foster Auditorium in an attempt to stop the enrollment of Hood and Vivian Malone. When confronted by U.S. Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and federal marshals sent in by U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Wallace stepped aside.

As a member of the school's committee for desegregation, Melford Espy, the first "Big Al", was asked by the administration to help welcome Malone and Hood to the campus. Hood dropped out of school after two months, but subsequently returned and, in 1997, received his Ph.D. in philosophy. Later in his life, Wallace apologized to Hood for his opposition to racial integration.

References

• Clark, E. Culpepper (1993) The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation's Last Stand at the University of Alabama. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195074173
• "Hood, one of first African-Americans to enroll at UA, dies." (January 17, 2013) Gadsden Times