Opening the Doors: The Desegregation of the University of Alabama and the Fight for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa

13. Old Wounds Healed: October 10, 1996, and September 16, 1998

chapter 13 Old Wounds Healed Oc­to­ber 10, 1996, and Sep­ tem­ber 16, 1998 The legacy of George Wallace is not the schoolhouse door. The legacy of George Wallace is one of God and change. VivianMaloneandJamesHoodhadnotseenthelastofGeorgeWallace.Ina strange twist of fate, on Oc­to­ber 10, 1996, Vivian Malone-­Jones was awarded the first Lurleen B. Wallace Award of Courage, an award presented to an Alabama woman who best exemplified the spirit and fortitude of the state’s first female governor—who also happened to be George Wallace’s departed wife. Dressed in a tuxedo, George Wallace—now confined to a wheelchair after a failed assassination attempt in 1972—sat near the lavishly dressed Malone-­ Jones, the woman who, thirty-­ three years prior, he had attempted to block from entering a school. The dinner served as a strange reunion and was comprised of speeches from an assortment of people, in­ clud­ ing Fred Gray, an African Ameri­ can civil rights litigator who began by thanking a number of people, in­ clud­ing George Wallace. “I had the distinction of first meeting [Wallace] when he was the sec­ ond judge,laterrepresentinghimintheAlabamalegislaturewhilehewasgovernor, at which period of time,” Gray joked, “I filed a few lawsuits against him.” Old Wounds Healed 109 Next to the podium was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—bearing a striking resemblance to his father. “I came here tonight specifically because I know my father would’ve wanted to be here if he were alive,” Kennedy began. “Because this is really the closing of a circle that’s spanned 35 years, two generations in Alabama history and Ameri­ can history and to me, it has really broad significance .” WhileWallacelistenedattentively,hismostdeservingcritichadyettotake herturn.Afterseveralmorespeeches,theguestofhonor,VivianMalone-­Jones, was called to the podium to receive her award, along with a standing ovation. Dressed in white with her hair cut short, she began by offering a heartfelt thanks to Governor Wallace and his family, as well as her husband, Dr. Mack Jones, who had supported her through­out her ordeal. “It was difficult for me to be [at the University of Alabama], but it was even more difficult for him to come through all of those guards and all of the policemen and all of the things that were going on at that time, to come over and take me out during that period of time,” she began. “And especially during a time when I was ostracized by the majority of students on campus.” Malone-­ Jones painted a more negative impression of her experiences than was origi­ nally reported, recalling specifically the struggles of her first day of classes. “I remembered that the professor made a statement, said, ‘Anyone who doesn’t want to be in here at this point in time can leave.’ About half the class left. These were very trying times.” The audience listened in perfect silence as she continued to recount her tale, at last arriving upon the subject that interested people most—­including the governor. “I’m of­ten asked, ‘What do you think of the stand George Wal­ lace took?’” she began. “I’ve always maintained that I felt that it was not right, but the part that is so good, and that has been mentioned by several of our speakers tonight, is that Governor Wallace also recognized that this was not the right thing to do, and extends, tonight, a hand of friendship to say that I was wrong, but let’s do better next time. Let’s learn from our past mistakes.” She concluded by graciously thanking the Wallace Foundation once more for workingwithhertoestablishascholarshipforAfricanAmeri­canstudents. “I know how difficult it is these days for young people to go to college,” Malone-­ Jones added. Yet it had been far more difficult in June of 1963, when Malone dared do it first. 110 The Stand % James Hood, too, came to forgive George Wallace. On Sep­tem­ber 16, 1998, the recently deceased Wallace lay in repose in the MontgomeryStateCapitol,hisbodyfrailandshriveledfromyearsofconfinementtohiswheelchair .Approximatelytwenty-­fivethousandhadcometopay their respects—“nearly as many blacks as whites,” one newspaper was sure to note. Yet among these thousands sat one man whose presence perhaps meant more than any other. Despite their many differences, fifty-­six-­year-­old James Hood had come to pay his respects. He had met Wallace on at least one occasion following the standintheschoolhousedoor,ameetinginwhicharepentantWallacereportedly confided to him, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad with power”—less...