James Hood, one of first black University of Alabama students, dead at age 70, news reports state (updated) (video)

James Hood, one of the first black students at the University of Alabama, died today, The Tuscaloosa News reported.

Mr. Hood, 70, died in his hometown of Gadsden, The Gadsden Times reported.

Despite Gov. George Wallace's infamous stand in the schoolhouse door, Mr. Hood and Vivian Malone finally broke through the barriers of segregation at the University of Alabama in 1963.

It was on June 11,1963, that Mr. Hood and Malone, accompanied by U.S. Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and federal marshals, attempted to register for classes at Foster Auditorium. Flanked by state troopers and in the face of national media, Wallace stood at the doorway of the auditorium to block the students' entry.

President John F. Kennedy then federalized the Alabama National Guard and instructed guardsmen to remove Wallace.

That afternoon, Brigadier General Henry V. Graham told Wallace that it was his ''sad duty'' to tell the governor to step aside. Wallace made a final statement and complied, and Mr. Hood and Malone were allowed to enroll.

Vivian Malone, who later went by Vivian Malone-Jones, died in 2005. In 2010, the university dedicated a plaza and clock tower outside Foster Auditorium in their honor.

Mr. Hood later transferred to another university but returned to UA in 1997 to earn a doctorate.

"Commencement for many students is a closure," Mr. Hood said in a Birmingham News article about his graduation. "To me it's the end of a negative chapter and an opportunity to move on."

Mr. Hood in 1998 recanted a story he told in public speaking egagements of an uncle being lynched by the Ku Klux Klan.

The Wisconsin State Journal reported that Mr. Hood, after talking to other relatives, was only certain that a relative was beaten severely by Klan members but not killed.

"I probably should have cleared it up," Hood told the newspaper. "I just remember the devastation. I grew up afraid of the Klan because of it."

Mr. Hood believed Wallace was sincere when later in life he renounced the racist rhetoric of his past. Mr. Hood visited Wallace in his final days and attended the former governor's funeral in 1998.

Mr. Hood said he once asked Wallace whether he truly believed in segregation or was just playing politics when he stood in the schoolhouse door.

"His answer was, it was right politically," Mr. Hood said in a 1996 Birmingham News interview. "He doesn't agree with that now, but he felt the people of Alabama expected that. It was a political decision and he did it because he made a political promise."

Updated at 7:25 p.m. with information from past News articles.

Updated at 9:18 p.m. with information from a 1998 Wisconsin State Journal article.

This video is from The Gadsden Times:

Source: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/01/james_hood_one_of_first_black.html

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