Why read The Schoolhouse Door?

Book cover of The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation's Last Stand at the University of Alabama

Book description

On June 11, 1963, in a dramatic gesture that caught the nation's attention, Governor George Wallace physically blocked the entrance to Foster Auditorium on the University of Alabama's campus. His intent was to defy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, sent on behalf of the Kennedy administration to force Alabama to accept…

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Topics

NASA
JFK

Genres

American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Schoolhouse Door as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Richard Paul

Author

Every Baby Boomer thinks they know everything there is to know about Gov. George Wallace’s efforts to prevent Black enrollment at the University of Alabama.

What I learned from this book though, was that Tuscaloosa was Wallace’s second choice. NASA had recently helped Alabama open a university campus near its Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, and a Black NASA employee, David McGlathery wanted to integrate it. Wallace thought that his best chance to confront Federal power was to publicly stop McGlathery in NASA’s backyard.

McGlathery was still alive when I was writing my book, but despite entreaties from his wife and…

From Richard's list on race and racism in America during the time of the space program.