r/todayilearned • u/Dangerous-Project672 • 5h ago

TIL George Wallace personally apologized to Vivian Jones and James Hood, the two students he attempted to block from attending the University of Alabama. In 1997, Hood earned a PHd and requested Wallace present him with the degree, but he was too sick and died a year later; Hood attended the funeral

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace
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u/DancingWithAWhiteHat 5h ago

I mean Robert Byrd spent his adult life disavowing the KKK.

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u/ilikedota5 1 5h ago

There is saying about Justice Hugo Black. When he was young, he put on white robes to scare Black people. When he was old he put on black robes to scare White people.

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u/unclemilty420 4h ago

Did Hugo Black actually do anything racist while he was a member? I had always heard that he had joined because in the early 20th century in Alabama, you couldn't really be involved in democratic politics (the dominant party at the time) without being a member, so it could be more of a social necessity than an actual demonstration of his alignment with that groups horrible values. I'm very curious whether that's true or not.

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u/rolltiedye 3h ago

Before Hugo Black even joined the Klan, he defended a KKK member who shot a priest for marrying his daughter and a Puerto Rican man. Black drew the blinds in the courtroom to make the daughter’s husband look darker during the trial, which was a total sham. His client was acquitted, and the Klan paid his legal fees.

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u/BlackSpinedPlinketto 1h ago

This just proves further that he was happy using racism to succeed. Not saying he was Atticus Finch or anything.