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 and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.