By Julia McGee
M.A. in public history from the University of North Alabama, December, 2019
Former MSNHA graduate assistant
While every moment I spent in the University of North Alabama’s master of public history program was wonderful and insightful, the most memorable part was being able to help create an exhibit last year on Dr. Wendell Gunn, who, in 1963, became the first person to integrate Florence State University.
The exhibit I helped with was a 30-foot wall decal honoring Gunn’s enrollment and remarkable achievements–such as serving as a special adviser to Pres. Ronald Reagan. UNA public history and art students, led by public history professor Brian Dempsey and art professor Chiong-Yiao Chen, collaborated on researching, designing and creating the mural. As one of the public history students working on the project, I especially appreciated the opportunities to hear Dr. Gunn’s story in his own words. Whenever he talked about his time on campus, his face was full of happiness and memories.
He told us that he was home in Tuscumbia on break from Nashville Christian Institute when he saw the catalog for FSU on a friend’s coffee table. He decided he wanted to enroll at Florence State and took the first steps toward the legacy he would soon establish. During his first semester, Gunn said, people were friendly but no one knew what to say to him. During his second semester, he attended a university ceremony to accept an achievement award in physics. When he walked to the stage, he said, he was met with a resounding “Hello!”–the award becoming the first moment his fellow students seemed to recognize and appreciate his presence on campus.
The first time Dr. Gunn shared this story with the public history students, everyone in the room got chills. Throughout the time we spent with him, we graduate students learned more about compassion and strength than in all our combined years in life. Gunn is a humble man and strongly believes that his story is UNA’s story. The way Gunn speaks about his love for his university–which became UNA in 1983–shows the real meaning of “alma mater.” We were all thrilled when UNA renamed the former Student Commons Building in his honor in 2018 and he was appointed to the UNA board of trustees this past July.
The exhibit on Dr. Gunn is located on campus in Collier Library’s ground floor, on the wall across from the Caffè Dallucci coffee shop, and is open to the public. The exhibit was unveiled on Sept. 20, 2019, and will remain until 2021, when a mural honoring the 150th anniversary of women’s admission to UNA, will take its place. Take a few minutes and visit this exhibit to learn about UNA’s history & about one of its most notable graduates. ###
