George Wallace, segregationist Alabama governor, loses university honor

The University of Alabama at Birmingham has removed the name of four-term governor and presidential candidate George C Wallace from a campus building, over his support of racial segregation.

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A resolution unanimously approved by trustees on Friday said Wallace rose to power by defending racial separation and stoking racial animosity. While noting that Wallace eventually renounced racist policies, the resolution said his name remained a symbol of racial injustice for many.

A UAB building named after Wallace in 1975 will now be called simply the Physical Education Building. Removing Wallace’s name “is simply the right thing to do”, trustee John England Jr said in a statement.

Wallace, who at his 1963 inauguration famously vowed “Segregation today! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!”, was paralyzed in an assassination attempt while running for president in 1972. He used a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

One Sunday in 1979, Wallace went to Dexter Avenue baptist church in Montgomery, once home to Martin Luther King Jr, to ask for forgiveness.

“I have learned what suffering means,” he said. “In a way that was impossible, I think I can understand something of the pain black people have come to endure. I know I contributed to that pain, and I can only ask your forgiveness.”

Wallace was elected to a fourth term as governor in 1982, with support from Black voters. He died in 1998. Multiple buildings around the state bear his name.

England said Wallace has a “complex legacy” that includes an apology to the late congressman John Lewis, who was beaten by Alabama state troopers while trying to march for voting rights in Selma in 1965.

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“That said, [Wallace’s] stated regret late in life did not erase the effects of the divisiveness that continue to haunt the conscience and reputation of our state,” England added.

An online petition urged Auburn University to rename a building honoring Wallace last year, as protests against police killings and racial injustice swept the US. No action was taken. Wallace’s son, George Wallace Jr, wrote an open letter opposing such a move, which he said would fail to recognize his father’s change late in life.

In a statement released by UAB, Wallace’s daughter, Peggy Wallace Kennedy, expressed support for change on the Birmingham campus.

“It is important to the university to always seek positive and meaningful change for the betterment of students, faculty and the community,” she said.