Graduate Student Caroline Gray Interns at the Gorgas House

The Summersell Center for Southern History’s Public History Initiative partners students with on-campus and local organizations, such as the Gorgas House, W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, and local churches and clubs, to conduct research and create projects that communicate their history to the public.

Pruitt 2003 library book
Left to right: Edna Miller-Gardner, Brenda McCampbell Lyons, Vivian Malone Jones, Autherine Lucy Foster, and Terry Points Boney

This semester, Caroline Gray, one of the Department of History’s MA students, is interning at the Gorgas House here on The University of Alabama’s campus. She has had the following to say about her experience so far:

 

“I am currently researching the history of African American women at The University of Alabama as a part of the upcoming Women at the Capstone Exhibit. As we remember 125 years of female enrollment at the university, it is important to remember the women who have long had a presence at UA, but have only recently enrolled as students. My primary research so far has focused on the last sixty years, examining the long process of integration from Autherine Lucy to sorority integration in 2013. One of the most useful documents I have come across is Dr. Samory Pruitt’s extensive dissertation that contains interviews of notable African American students, including Autherine Lucy, Vivian Malone, Edna Miller-Gardner, Terry Points, and Brenda McCampbell. These interviews are incredibly useful for this project because they bring these women to life, offering a glimpse not only of their experiences, but also their personalities. I am looking forward to getting to know these and other remarkable women as I continue to research this semester.”