I found the African American Heritage Tour of The University of Alabama to be very informative. I have been on the tour before, but I noticed some things the second time that I hadn't noticed before. Personally I believe the school doesn't inform students very well on its African American heritage. I found that the Foster Auditorium stop was interesting. The clock tower is to pay tribute to Autherine Lucy Foster, James Hood and the late Vivian Malone Jones. These three students were the first three African American students whose enrollment started the universities desegregation. Throughout the tour you can learn about other places on campus that were involved with the universities African American heritage, including places like the Presidents mansion, Nott hall, and Reese Phifer.
Even though the tour was informative, I have to question the facts. As I was going through the tour, I thought about what Trouillot said about history in his book. He talks about history as "what happened" and "that which is said to have happened." We have the right to wonder if we are being told the truth about what happened and if it is the whole story. The tour around campus proved to be informative, but the school still doesn't put a great emphasis on its African American heritage. The clock tower, for example, had quotes by the three students and a short informative sign. If we want to know the deeper information, we have to go look it up for ourselves.
The tower is located right by Foster hall where Governor George C. Wallace blocked the entrance to the building so African American students could not enter. He delivered a speech, but eventually stepped aside for students to register for classes. Foster auditorium also has a memorative sign on the building by the front door. We are told about these occurrences, but we wonder if we are receiving the whole story. Trouillot has good points about the meaning of history.
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