Lucy’s Legacy is a living-learning community for women of color that paves the way for minority women to find their place at The University of Alabama and opens up a world of opportunities they may have never known they could experience.
The organization is named after Autherine Lucy Foster, the first African-American student at The University of Alabama.
Foster opened so many doors for us women of color, and in her honor, the women of Lucy’s Legacy hope to live out her values and embody the determination she had through the work we carry out in this community.
The community was formed in 2019 by Kiara Summerville, a three-time UA graduate. She saw the need for an organization where women of color could come together and learn from one another while also guiding one another on the path to a bright future.
With her amazing fight to put this community together, she created Lucy’s Legacy, where numerous women of color would be able to grow into powerful young women who don’t let the color of their skin define what impact they can make at the University.
I joined Lucy’s Legacy not knowing what impact this community would have on me. The women in this organization have become some of my best friends and have been there for me throughout my college years so far. I never planned to be very involved in college but Lucy’s Legacy opened my eyes to all the opportunities and changed my mind for the better.
Lucy’s Legacy, as many members say, is the gateway to getting involved on campus and making connections with peers as well as faculty and staff. With Summerville’s advocacy and mentorship from the Legacy Leaders, the incoming freshmen in this living-learning community are set up from the start to pursue their desires on this campus.
Not many schools, especially predominately white institutions, have programs such as Lucy’s where young women can access so many resources to succeed on campus, which is why this organization is so special. It’s not easy being a woman of color at a predominantly white institution. You stand out in ways that you can’t control, making it feel isolating at times. So having a program like Lucy’s gives us a place to meet other experiencing the same struggles, and work together to get through them.
These new members are able to have upperclassman women guide them in the direction they need to flourish in their majors. They are informed about what organizations to join, how to set up resumes. They’re also helped with interview preparation. They are introduced to networking opportunities. They are invited to study halls with free tutoring, resume building, talks with faculty and staff members, and even a women’s studies class just for students in the program.These opportunities not only set Lucy’s Legacy students apart but allow them to excel alongside their peers from other demographics, achieving the same awards and recognitions that everyone else is.
You can see the positive impact this organization has made on these women as they are involved in numerous organizations, many on executive boards, such as the A-Team and Capstone Men and Women.
Lucy’s not only helps you believe that you can do anything at this University, but also gives you the confidence in and awareness of the value you hold that could help you flourish into a phenomenal woman in the future.
This organization has allowed many African American and Hispanic women at The University of Alabama to realize the influence they can have on future students and understand that the marks they make can make them legends too.
Seeing the women who have come before me achieve so much and be so well-rounded on campus inspired me to go out and make a name for myself. I went from only being in Lucy’s Legacy my freshman year to becoming the president of Lucy’s, the vice president of the Pre-Physical Therapy Society, and a member of the Student Recruitment Team. None of these roles would’ve happened without the women of Lucy’s Legacy and Dr. Summerville advocating and pushing me to see my full potential.
Lucy’s Legacy is a unique opportunity that I don’t take for granted because it is how I found my place on campus and that’s why I pursued to be President. I want to be an example for these women to show them that no matter the color of their skin, they can make a difference on this campus and achieve whatever their heart desires.
Mya Reliford is a junior at The University of Alabama majoring in kinesiology and is the president of the Lucy’s Legacy Executive Council.
