Fifty years ago today, the University of Alabama was desegregated when Governor George Wallace yielded to federalized National Guard troops and allowed Vivian Malone and James Hood to enroll. So here’s Alabama Shakes performing “Hold On” on Saturday Night Live a few months ago.

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York Magazine; a longtime contributor to the Washington Monthly; and a former policy adviser to three governors and a U.S. senator from his home state of Georgia.