Vivian Malone Jones’s entrance through the door of the University of Alabama’s Foster Auditorium on 11 June 1963 brought an end to months of political and legal struggles between the state and federal governments. But more importantly, it marked the beginning of integration at the University, opening the door for many African Americans who have studied at the institution since then. Born 15 July 1942 in Mobile, Ala., Jones looked forward to college at a young age, and by age 12 already was aware of the potential obstacles. The U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision "put something in (her) mind" that she could achieve her goal (Chronicle of Higher Education, 14 May 2004). After an illustrious high school career, during which she was a member of the National Honor Society, Jones enrolled at Alabama A & M, an historically black Huntsville university. To get an accredited degree in accounting, she applied to the University of Alabama’s School of Commerce and Business Administration and was admitted as a junior.
Jones was not the first African American the University accepted. After working with the NAACP to secure a court ourder for admission, Autherine Lucy enrolled as a graduate student in library science in February 1956. Angry mobs prevented her from attending classes, however, and the University suspended her for safety reasons. She eventually was expelled but finally earned her master's degree from the University in 1992. Admission did not come easily for Jones, either. The Chicago Daily Defender closely followed the stories of Jones and James Hood, both of whom submitted their applications around Thanksgiving in 1962 for the spring 1963 semester. University officials halted processing of their applications that December, citing “pressure of enrollments,” and a lawyer from the NAACP stepped in. A federal court finally ordered admission of the two undergraduate students for the summer session, in addition to mathematical graduate student David McGlathery’s admission to the University’s Huntsville campus. Gaining acceptance to the University was only the beginning of Jones’s struggle, thanks to then-governor George Wallace. In his January 1963 inaugural address, Wallace had proclaimed his intent to protect segregation, promoting a separate but equal stance and calling federal efforts at integration “tyrannical.” He had made campaign promises to physically stand in the door of any schoolhouse where such attempts were made – a promise he reiterated in the wake of the court order.
As the drama unfolded in May of 1963, the national media kept a watchful eye on the situation. According to reports in the Defender and New York Times, President John F. Kennedy responded to Wallace’s threat by announcing a plan to use federal troops if necessary to enforce the court order. A federal judge also granted an injunction barring Wallace from making his stand in the schoolhouse door, an order Wallace publicly planned to defy. Wallace ordered a legion of state troopers to keep the peace in Tuscaloosa. Adding to the tension, the Ku Klux Klan staged a massive rally on the outskirts of town on the eve of the students’ registration.
Jones and Hood waited in a car as Wallace took his stand in the door of Foster Auditorium. Flanked by federal marshals, Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach requested that Wallace step aside. The governor made his famous statement, citing the tenth amendment to the Constitution as part of his argument that the federal government had no right to usurp the state’s control over its schools. Katzenbach called Kennedy, who federalized the Alabama National Guard. Those troops arrived, four and a half hours after Wallace’s initial refusal, and the students finally were allowed to enroll. Jones remained resolute throughout the ordeal. She told a National Public Radio audience in 2003 that she had every intention of walking into the auditorium, whether the governor was there or not:
Hood left the university after two months, saying he wanted to avoid “a complete mental and physical breakdown.” He earned his bachelor’s degree at Wayne State University in Detroit, but returned to the University of Alabama for his doctorate in higher education, which he received in 1997. Upon learning of Jones’s death in 2005, he told Jet (31 October 2005) that he remembered her as being quiet but determined. The assassination of Civil Rights activist Medgar Evars and bomb blasts near Jones's dormitory only strengthened her resolve. Her New York Times obituary (14 October 2005) cites a 2004 interview in which Jones said, “I decided not to show any fear.” On 30 May 1965, national media announced Jones’s achievement as the first African American to graduate from the University of Alabama, earning a bachelor of arts in business management with a B-plus average. A degree is not all the University provided. It also had hired Stillman College student Mack Jones as her driver; the two later married and had two children.
Immediately following graduation, Jones moved to Washington and joined the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice as a staff member of its Voter Education Project. Shortly afterward, she moved to Atlanta and took a position with the Environmental Protection Agency, where she was director of civil rights and urban affairs until her retirement in 1996. According to her Washington Post obituary (14 October 2005), Jones remained active in civil rights and civic and community organizations, including the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Atlanta's Ben Hill United Methodist Church and the National Council of Negro Women. In October 1996, the George Wallace Family Foundation selected Jones to be the first recipient of its Lurleen B. Wallace Award of Courage. Jet (28 October 1996) reported a meeting between Jones and Wallace in Montgomery prior to the ceremony, at which the former governor apologized. At the ceremony, Wallace said, “Vivian Malone Jones was at the center of the fight over states' rights and conducted herself with grace, strength and, above all, courage.” Wallace’s son, George Jr., later called Jones “a true American hero.” In 2000, the University of Alabama bestowed on Jones a doctorate of humane letters. As part of her address at the ceremony, she told graduates the lesson they could take away from her experience was that they always must be ready to seize the moment:
Written by Erika J. Pribanic-Smith Malone's March |
