After her 3-year fight to become the The University of Alabama’s first black student was finally won on February 3, 1956, Autherine Lucy was put out within 3 days.

At least she’d actually attended. The friend who’d first suggested it was ousted before she even set foot on campus.

Autherine and Pollie Myers had several Associate’s and Bachelor’s degrees between them, and when they submitted letters of inquiry to the university for their Master’s in 1952, their pedigrees were so impressive that they both received offer letters back within less than 2 weeks. But as soon as they submitted their official applications denoting their race, Alabama rescinded their offers, apologizing for the admittance “mistake.”

The NAACP immediately took on the case, and a young lawyer by the name of Thurgood Marshall warned the ladies that they could expect an uphill battle. Two years in, the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education case that ruled segregation in public schools unconstitutional was an incredible victory for all black students, and 13 months later, Autherine & Pollie were successfully readmitted.

But during the course of the trial, the university had hired private investigators to dig up any dirt they could find on the girls, hoping to call their character into question. Sure enough, they’d discovered that Pollie, now married and with a child, had conceived her child before taking vows. That was a violation of the University of Alabama’s morality code and Pollie was once again disqualified from attending.

Since Pollie was the driving force behind the attempt anyway, university officials hoped Autherine would find the whole affair to be too much trouble and withdraw her application herself. She did not.

On February 3, 1956, Autherine Lucy proudly attended her first day of classes, and having survived her first 48 hours with only a few hundred rocks, eggs and slurs thrown her way, she thought it had actually gone about as well as could be expected.

By February 6, the riots had reached such a violent fever pitch that Autherine sat after her first class for hours, waiting for the mob outside to dissipate before officers would even attempt escorting her out to the police cruiser necessary to transport her around campus. That same day, the University of Alabama expelled Autherine “for her own safety.”

Once again, the NAACP lawyers brought charges against the university, but one of those initial charges alleged that the university had conspired in the riot. Unconvinced they could prove it in court, the charge was withdrawn, but not before Alabama caught wind of it. They claimed that the allegation amounted to defamation and this time, Autherine’s expulsion was official, final and devastating.

“Whatever happens in the future, remember for all concerned, that your contribution has been made toward equal justice for all Americans and that you have done everything in your power to bring this about,” Thurgood Marshall wrote to her, reassuring her that though her fight had been lost, it had not been in vain.

9 years later, Autherine’s fight indeed came to fruition when Vivian Malone became the University of Alabama’s first black graduate.

Autherine’s own redemption was much longer in the making.

After two Alabama history professors invited this living legend into their classrooms to share her firsthand account as a pioneer and petitioned the university to overturn her expulsion, 60-year-old Autherine Lucy returned to the University of Alabama for her Master’s in Elementary Education.

But this time, she didn’t go alone. Autherine and her daughter Grazia were both admitted in 1989 and subsequently graduated together in an incredibly touching and monumental moment that truly illustrated the impact Autherine’s sacrifice had.

Today, the Autherine Lucy Clock Tower, the Autherine Lucy $25,000 Scholarship Endowment, and three individual tributes stand on the University of Alabama campus in honor of the woman whose name school officials once couldn’t get off the register fast enough.

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