University of Alabama Reconsidering Pairing Names of KKK Leader with First Black Student

FILE – This file photo shows Autherine Lucy Foster, center, the first Black person to attend University of Alabama, discussing her return to campus following mob demonstrations in Birmingham, Ala., on Feb. 7, 1956. She held a press conference accompanied by Ruby Hurley, right, Southeast regional secretary of the NAACP, and attorney Arthur Shores, left. (AP Photo/Gene Herrick)

The University of Alabama is reconsidering its decision last week to retain the name of a one-time governor who led the Ku Klux Klan on a campus building while adding the name of the school’s first Black student.

A university statement says trustees will meet Friday in a livestreamed video conference to revisit their decision to keep the name of former Alabama Gov. Bibb Graves while adding the name of Autherine Lucy Foster.

Last week’s decision to rename the education building Lucy-Graves Hall has since been criticized by some.

Foster herself expressed ambivalence about the honor.

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