HERstory: univ. of alabama's audacious vivian malone jones

meet vivian malone jones, the first black woman to attend the university of alabama.  we think we have it hard in school?  in 1963,
the governor of alabama himself stood in the entrance way of the school so that vivian couldn't get in. but that did not stop her from having the audacity to walk through the front doors of the last all-white state university, and it certainly didn't stop her from being the first african-american to graduate from the university [ with a B+ average ! ]

vivian malone jones strolling past the haters into her first day of school at the all-white university of alabama

after she graduated, vivian went on to work for civil rights division of the United States Department of Justice.

in 1996, that same governor who tried his hardest to stop vivian from attending the university of alabama presented her with the lurleen b. wallace award for courage.  vivian discussed forgiveness with him, but i'm sure she could not ever forget his bitterness and hatred.

click here to watch vivian malone jones waltz right past governor george wallace and into the university of alabama