Imagine walking anxiously to class on the first day of school with sharpened pencils and a fresh notebook tucked under your arm just to be turned away because of your skin color.
When black students Vivian Malone and James Hood walked into Foster Auditorium in 1963, the only thing that literally stood between them and a UA college education was Gov. George Wallace.
That pivotal event occurred 45 years ago on June 11, 1963, in a time when the segregated South fought kicking and screaming against the national push to desegregate schools, and the UA chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority honored the event Monday night with its annual March to the School House Doors.
After Malone and Hood stood their ground on the steps of the building for four and a half hours almost five decades ago, U.S. President John F. Kennedy trumped the state government by sending National Guard troops to escort the students through the doors.
Shanteria Johnson, the president of the Theta Sigma chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, said they host the event to educate students about the civil rights incident known as "the Stand at the Schoolhouse Door."
"It was a pillar moment in the civil rights movement because it brought attention from all over the United States to what was going on in the South," she said.
A group of people marched from the front steps of Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library through the Quad under a clear navy sky to Foster Auditorium. The crowd filled 76 white folding chairs, and others stood by to listen to a speaker at the very location in which the desegregation struggle occurred.
"We had a good turnout," Johnson said.
Cleophus Thomas, Jr., the first and only black president of the SGA at the University, spoke about how far diversity at the Capstone has come since the incident, and how far we still need to go.
Johnson agreed that the University has come a long way.
"We are a diverse University," Johnson said. "Especially at the Ferg; I see [diverse groups] eating together. That's a huge step."
Thomas spoke about how events like the racist remarks chalked on the sidewalk at Reese Phifer Hall show that there are still improvements to be made.
"There are always going to be people who don't want to change," Johnson said.
She said there are still people who are not educated enough to accept all races, which is one reason why it is important to spread awareness about historical events like the one on that occurred here on the UA campus.
Hosting the march at the actual setting of Foster Auditorium helped the participants grasp the reality of the event.
"It makes an impact to think, 'OK, he was standing there, and we're sitting right here,'" she said. "The building still exists and people can still remember what happened."
Johnson said she thinks the event in 1963 garnered so much national attention because it was a conflict between state and federal power and because it brought into light how far behind the South was in the 1960s.
"It made people aware that things were separate but not equal," she said.
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