In 1966 Maynard entered the University of Alabama as a freshman, a little more than two years after George Wallace, a notorious racist and the governor of Alabama, had stood in the schoolhouse door of Foster Auditorium. Wallace put on an exaggerated performance of “states’ rights” in the face of federal agents as he blocked two young Black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from entering to register at the university and pay their semester fees. Our family had begged and pleaded: Please, Maynard, pick any other school.
