Qualla: University of Alabama

University of Alabama: Introduction

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit RhYno12, CC0. Three things define the University of Alabama, and they have nothing to do with each other -- except that they all happened here. In 1865, Union cavalry burned almost every building on campus. In 1963, a governor stood in a doorway trying to stop desegregation. And across more than a century of Saturdays, the Crimson Tide football program has accumulated 18 national championships, more than any other school in the country. Tuscaloosa's university, founded in 1820 and known simply as "the Capstone," carries the full weight and contradiction of the American South in its brick and mortar.

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Image: RhYno12 | CC0

University of Alabama: Wilderness Seminary

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sandorbg, CC BY-SA 4.0. The university's origins trace to 1818, when Congress authorized the newly created Alabama Territory to set aside a township for a "seminary of learning." When Alabama joined the Union in 1819, the land grant expanded to 46,000 acres. The legislature established the school on Dec...

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Image: Sandorbg | CC BY-SA 4.0

University of Alabama: Ashes and Survivors

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The university converted to a military campus during the Civil War, producing Confederate officers. On April 4, 1865 -- five days before Lee's surrender at Appomattox -- General John Croxton's Union cavalry burned the campus to the ground. Despite a desperate defense by the stude...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

University of Alabama: The Schoolhouse Door

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Warren K. Leffler, U.S. News & World Report Magazine, Public domain. The university's most significant moment may have lasted only a few hours. Until the 1960s, Alabama admitted only white students. Autherine Lucy enrolled on February 3, 1956, the first Black student at any white public university in the state, but violent campus protests led to h...

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Image: Warren K. Leffler, U.S. News & World Report Magazine | Public domain

University of Alabama: Crimson Tide Saturdays

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrea Wright from Mobile, AL, USA, CC BY 2.0. Football at Alabama operates on a scale that defies the word "tradition." The program, inaugurated in 1892, has won 30 SEC titles and 18 national championships. Bryant-Denny Stadium, which opened in 1929 with a capacity of 12,000, now holds 100,077 -- a monument to expansion as r...

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Image: Andrea Wright from Mobile, AL, USA | CC BY 2.0

University of Alabama: The Capstone Today

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0. The University of Alabama enrolls nearly 40,000 students and claims 1,142 National Merit Scholars as of 2023, making it one of the largest enrolling institutions for merit scholars in the nation. The campus spreads across Tuscaloosa with 297 buildings, six libraries holding 2.9 m...

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Image: DXR | CC BY-SA 4.0