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Dr. Autherine Lucy Foster, the first Black student to attend the University of Alabama, has died at the age of 92, her family confirmed to AL.com on Wednesday (March 2).
Foster was in Tuscaloosa just last week to cut the ribbon on the newly-renamed College of Education building named in her honor. The same building is where she faced racist white mobs after enrolling in the school in the 1950s.
"For you to bring me out today, the Lord must be on each of our sides," Foster said Friday (February 25), before quoting the 23rd Psalm and author Ralph Waldo Emerson. "If I am a master teacher, what I hope I am teaching you is that love will take care of everything in our world."
Earlier this year, the University of Alabama unveiled plans to rename the Education building in her honor. At first the school was set to keep the name of the known-KKK member beside hers, but ultimately renamed the building Autherine Lucy Hall.
"She was known, honored and respected around the world after she broke the color barrier at the University of Alabama," her daughter, Chrystal Foster said in a statement. "She passed away at home, surrounded by family. We are deeply saddened, yet we realized she left a proud legacy."
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