UA dedicates tower, plaza to 1st black students

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) - The University of Alabama has dedicated a clock tower and plaza in honor of the three black students who helped desegregate the campus...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — The University of Alabama has dedicated a clock tower and plaza in honor of the three black students who helped desegregate the campus a half-century ago.

In a ceremony Wednesday, the Autherine Lucy Clock Tower was named in honor of the first black student to be accepted and enrolled at the university, in 1956. And the Malone-Hood Plaza was named in honor of James Hood and the late Vivian Malone Jones, who enrolled in 1963 despite then-Gov. George Wallace’s “stand in the schoolhouse door.”

The clock tower and plaza are outside the renovated Foster Auditorium where Wallace made his futile stand.

Foster, Hood and family members were on hand along with Malone’s daughter, son and other relatives, including U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who is married to Malone’s sister.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

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