Judges must decide cases without regard to fear of public reaction or personal consequences. This Article explores a particular act of judicial courage: the decision by United States District Judge William Augustus Bootle in January 1961 to order the desegregation of the University of Georgia. The Article tells the story of how a white southern federal judge, whose background included no evidence of a particular interest in civil rights, found himself in the center of a social and political firestorm when Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter made their case to become the first African‐American students in the one hundred and seventy‐five‐year history of the University of Georgia. The Article draws upon contemporary accounts of the events and extensive archival evidence to evoke a sense of the courage it took for Judge Bootle to decide that case solely upon the law and the facts, and it analyzes Judge Bootle’s decision as a matter of judicial craft.