James Alexander Hood (November 10, 1942 – January 17, 2013) was one of the first African Americans to enroll at the University of Alabama in 1963 and was made famous when Alabama Governor George Wallace blocked him from enrolling at the all-white university.[1]
On June 11, 1963, in a ceremonial demonstration, Wallace stood in front of the university's Foster Auditorium and delivered a short speech in support of state sovereignty. Hood arrived to pay his fees, accompanied by Vivian Malone and U.S. Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach. Wallace, backed by state troopers, refused them entry. President Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard later the same day, which put them under the command of the President, rather than the Governor of Alabama. Guardsmen escorted Hood and Malone back to the auditorium, where Wallace moved aside at the request of General Henry Graham. Hood and Malone then entered the building, albeit through another door.[2] Hood left the university after only two months but returned in 1995 to begin earning his doctorate degree.[3] On May 17, 1997 he received his Ph.D. in interdisciplinary studies.[4]
According to Wallace's secretary[citation needed], Wallace's action was intended to avoid a more violent demonstration by the Ku Klux Klan, which Wallace himself had opposed before embracing the group out of political necessity. In 1997, Wallace planned to give Hood his degree, but poor health prevented him from attending the ceremony. Hood himself was convinced that Wallace was sincere after that meeting, as he wrote in an interchange following the PBS documentary on Wallace, Setting the Woods on Fire. Hood attended Wallace's funeral in 1998, imploring others to forgive Wallace as he had,[5] as Wallace had publicly apologized for his actions.[6]
Hood also received a bachelor's degree from Michigan's Wayne State University and a master's degree from Michigan State University. He later moved to Wisconsin, where he worked at the Madison Area Technical College for 26 years. He retired in 2002 as chairman of public safety services in charge of police and fire training.[7] He would then move back to Gadsden, Alabama, the city in which we was born, where he would pass away at home on January 17, 2013 at the age of 70.[8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hood
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