Vivian Malone Jones incited segregationists by enrolling in an all-white University of Alabama on June 11, 1963. However, it was only the beginning of a long battle to desegregate an institution that forbade Blacks from participating in its affairs.
She applied to the University of Alabama because her previous institution had lost its accreditation. That meant her certificate would be invalid when it came time to look for work in a racially divided state. The University of Alabama’s School of Commerce and Business Administration accepted her as a junior.
According to encyclopedia.com, the University of Alabama was notorious for denying Black students admission on the grounds that they could not guarantee their safety. A classic example was Autherine Lucy, an African-American woman who was admitted to its library science program. She only lasted three days at the school after being harassed and intimidated by a horde of antagonistic students who made life unbearable for her. The school expelled her because it did not want to have any casualties on its hands.
Some Black students tried to enroll at the all-white University of Mississippi, but their presence sparked rioting. Jones’ action was viewed as yet another audacious attempt to correct the unwritten rule of the all-white university.
On their first day at the University of Alabama, she and another Black student named James Hood were accompanied by Nicholas Katzenbach, the deputy of U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
The school had to use the federal courts to recognize Jones’ admission with James prior to registration. The NAACP filed the suit in response to the school’s refusal to admit Black students.
When Jones, Hood, and Katzenbach attempted to enter the university, they were stopped by Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, who was standing at the door. He was opposed to efforts to desegregate schools in the Deep South. He vowed to keep schools segregated and coined the infamous slogan “Segregation now, segregation forever.”
It took the intervention of the National Guard and four and a half hours to register Jones and Hood at the university. With television cameras rolling, the deputy attorney general requested that the governor step aside so that the students could go to class.
Jones had to be escorted by federal officers for the first few days of her enrollment to ensure her safety. Hood, who couldn’t take the frustration any longer, transferred to Wayne State University, leaving Jones as the only African-American student among a white population of 10,000.
Jones earned a Bachelor of Arts in business management after a difficult journey. She was soon hired by the US Department of Justice’s civil rights division. She also served as the director of civil rights and urban affairs for the Environmental Protection Agency. She later became the agency’s director of environmental justice, a position she held until her retirement in 1996. That same year, Governor Wallace presented Jones with the Lurleen B. Wallace Award for Courage and apologized for his actions in denying her access to education. He expressed admiration for her bravery.
Jones was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1942. She was the youngest of seven siblings. Her formal education was received at a historically black school in Huntsville.