Wallace Helps Honor Student He Tried To Keep Out In 1963

The last time George C. Wallace and Vivian Malone Jones had 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, now a sickly shadow of his 1960s segregationist self, met as Jones was honored with 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.”

Jones said Wallace apologized for the 1963 confrontation during a brief private meeting before Thursday night’s awards ceremony.

“He said he felt that it was wrong, that it shouldn’t have happened. He said he felt the state of Alabama is better now than it was then as a result of what has happened through the integration and the desegregation of the schools here,” she said.

Wallace, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease and paralysis, was present but made no comments to reporters.

Wallace’s son, former state Treasurer George Wallace Jr., presented the glass eagle to Jones, who urged Alabamians to help others realize their potential.

“Alabama is still, of course, Alabama the beautiful. There’s a lot of promise here,” she said. “Alabama, make good on your promise.”

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.

Jones, a Mobile native who lives in Atlanta, said she forgave Wallace long ago, “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.