June 19th is known as Juneteenth, a day that represents freedom. On this day 155 years ago, the last group of enslaved people in the United States were freed.
The Alabama football twitter page made a post celebrating Juneteenth. What better way to celebrate this special day in history than honoring the first two Black Alabama football players in program history: Wilbur Jackson and John Mitchell.
On June 19, 155 years ago, the last group of enslaved people in the U.S. were freed. Today, we recognize and celebrate #Juneteenth.
To learn more about the history of #Juneteenth and how it is being celebrated locally, visit https://t.co/ZaPjyrejVu pic.twitter.com/IswzHj3HiU
— Alabama Athletics (@UA_Athletics) June 19, 2020
Even in 1970, the University of Alabama football team was still high segregated. It wasn’t until the historic matchup between Alabama and USC at Legion Field in Birmingham. Alabama lost the game, but gained so much more. A documentary released in 2019 called “Against the Tide” shows how the game changed Alabama football history forever.
USC head coach John McKay started an all Black backfield against the Tide, in which they pounded the Crimson Tide, 42-21. For many, this game represents a turning point and defining moment in the SEC, especially with the integration of the Alabama football program.
Sam Cunningham, USC’s star running back who recorded 135 yards on just 12 carries and scored two touchdowns.
Jerry Claiborne, a former Bryant assistant famously said this at the end of the game, “Sam Cunningham did more to integrate Alabama in 60 minutes than Martin Luther King did in 20 years.”
And he did.
The following season in 1971, lead by Alabama legendary head coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, the Crimson Tide offered a scholarship to a Black player for the first time in program history, and they also played a Black player in a game for the first time in program history as well.
Wilbur Jackson played for Carroll High School in Ozark, Alabama, and would become the first Black player to ever be offered a scholarship from the Crimson Tide. In his three years playing for Alabama, he accumulated 1529 yards rushing and 17 rushing touchdowns, helping Alabama win the 1973 national championship. He was also inducted into Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
But that’s not all.
The same year Jackson was offered a scholarship, John Mitchell, a two-time Junior College All-American defensive end who had transferred from Eastern Arizona Junior College joined Alabama as well, and became the first Black player to ever play in a game for the Crimson Tide.
Mitchell, in an interview in 2001, shared this:
“I wouldn’t say everyone accepted me, but Coach
Bryant was fair so the players all treated me the same,”
But overtime, they came to know and love him, especially his roommate Robert Stanford:
“They could not have picked a better person to be the first African-American to be on the team because John was there to play football and get an education. He didn’t expect any special treatment and he didn’t get any, but he was treated fairly. He was a great person and a heck of a ballplayer.”
After his college career, Mitchell ended up staying in Tuscaloosa was offered a full time coach position with the Crimson Tide from Bear Bryant himself as a defensive ends coach. In doing so, he also became the first Black coach to ever coach at Alabama.
Both Jackson and Mitchell changed the game of football at the University of Alabama forever.