George Wallace Honors a Foe of Yesteryear

The last time George C. Wallace and Vivian Malone Jones laid eyes on each other, he was governor and she was a young black woman he was trying to keep out of the University of Alabama with his “stand in the schoolhouse door.”

Thirty-three years later, she and Wallace, a sickly shadow of the 1960s segregationist, met again Thursday night before Jones received an award, named in memory of Wallace’s wife, that recognizes women who made major improvements in the state.

“There is no question Wallace and I will be remembered for the stand in the schoolhouse door. There is no way you can overcome that,” said Jones, who retired last week from the Environmental Protection Agency. “But the best that can happen at this point is to say it was a mistake. We all make mistakes.”

She said Wallace apologized for the 1963 confrontation during the brief private meeting.

Jones, 54, said she wanted to be treated like an ordinary college student when Wallace cast her and James Hood into the national spotlight on June 11, 1963, by standing in the door of the campus auditorium to try to keep them from becoming the university’s first black students.

In a performance arranged with then-Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy, Wallace made a speech about states’ rights, then stepped aside to let the students enter under National Guard protection.

Jones, a Mobile, Ala., native who lives in Atlanta, said she forgave Wallace long ago for what he did to her, “but I never had a chance to talk to him about it.” Her remarks echoed those of Hood, who met Wallace for the first time in July.

Wallace, who long ago renounced segregation, said he was pleased his family’s foundation picked Jones to receive the first Lurleen B. Wallace Award of Courage. She was its top choice.

“Vivian Malone Jones was at the center of the fight over states’ rights and conducted herself with grace, strength and, above all, courage,” the 77-year-old former governor said.