Vivian Juanita Malone Jones (1942-2005)

October 30, 2020 
/ Contributed By: Euell A. Dixon

|U.S. Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenback

Vivian Malone registering for classes at the University of Alabama

Public Domain Image

Vivian Juanita Malone was one of the first two black students to enroll at the University of Alabama and was the first black graduate of the institution. Malone was born on July 15, 1942, in Monroe County, Alabama. Both of her parents worked at Brookley Air Force Base in Mobile and were involved in the civil rights movement. Malone was also involved in community activities in her youth, focusing on ending racial discrimination and working towards desegregation. She attended Central High School in Mobile where she was a member of the National Honor Society and graduated in 1960.

Malone attended Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M) and received a two-year degree in business education in 1962. In order to further her education, Malone would have to transfer to another university that offered more advanced classes. By 1962 at least two hundred black students had applied to the University of Alabama’s branch school in Mobile, but they were all denied admission based on over enrollment or closed enrollment. The actual reason, however, lay with the Alabamaโ€™s school segregation laws. After over a year of legal deliberations, Malone and fellow student James Hood were chosen to be the first two black students to desegregate the University.

James Hood and Vivian Malone

James Hood and Vivian Malone
ยฉ John Lindsay/AP, Fair use image

When U.S. District Court Judge Harlan Grooms ordered Malone and Hood admitted, the two arrived on campus on June 11, 1963, in a three-car motorcade accompanied by the U.S. Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and federal marshals. They were dispatched by the Kennedy Administration to avoid the rioting that accompanied the admission of James Meredith to the University of Mississippi the year before. Alabama governor George Wallace, however stood in the doorway, physically blocking the entrance of Hood and Malone. Deputy Attorney General Katzenbach called President Kennedy to force Governor Wallace to back down. The president federalized the Alabama National Guard, placing it under his command, rather than the governorโ€™s. One hundred guardsmen escorted Malone and Hood through another door to complete their registration. As she and Hood entered the building, they were met with surprising applause from white students who supported integration. Malone was accepted as a junior and was the first black student to graduate in 1965 with a bachelorโ€™s degree in business management.

Vivian Malone JonesMalone later moved to Washington, D.C. and joined the Civil Rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice as a research analyst. She attended George Washington University where she earned a masterโ€™s degree in public administration in 1968 and married fellow student Mack Arthur Jones. She then took a job as an employee relations specialist at the U.S. Veterans Administration in Washington D.C. Jones was appointed Executive Director of the Voter Education Project. Later she became the Director of Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and the Director of Environmental Justice for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she remained until her retirement in 1996.

Ironically, Jones was chosen by the George Wallace Family Foundation to be the first recipient of their Lurleen B. Wallace Award of Courage in 1996. The University of Alabama gave Jones an honorary doctorate of humane letters in 2000. Jones died of a stroke on October 13, 2005, in an Atlanta hospital at the age of 63. Jones is survived by her son, daughter, and grandchildren.

About the Author

Author Profile

Multiple business owner Euell Dixon (formerly Nielsen) was born on November 3, 1973, in Sewell, New Jersey. The youngest daughter of scientist and author Eustace A. Dixon II and Travel Agent Eleanor Forman, Euell was an early reader and began tutoring at The Verbena Ferguson Tutoring Center for Adults at the age of 13. She has owned and operated five different companies in the past 20 years including Show and Touch, Stitch This, Get Twisted, Dimaje Photography, and Island Treazures.

Euell is a Veteran of the U.S. Army (Reserves) and a member of the Order of Eastern Star, House of Zeresh #103. She is also the 3rd Historian for First African Presbyterian Church, the nationโ€™s oldest African American Presbyterian church, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Additionally, Euell is also a photographer, storyteller, fiber artist, and a historical re-enactor, portraying the lives of Patriot Hannah Till, Elizabeth Gloucester, and Henrietta Duterte. Euell has been writing for Blackpast.org since 2014 and was given an award from the site in 2016 for being the only African American female who had almost 100 entries at the time. Since then, she has written over 300 entries. Euell currently lives in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Dixon, E. (2020, October 30). Vivian Juanita Malone Jones (1942-2005). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/vivian-juanita-malone-jones-1942-2005/

Source of the Author's Information:

Douglas Martin, โ€œVivian Malone Jones, 63, Dies: First Black Graduate of University of Alabama,โ€ Nytimes.com, October 14, 2005, https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/14/us/vivian-malone-jones-63-dies-first-black-graduate-of-university-of.html; Meserette Kentake, โ€œVivian Malone: Civil Rights hero who defied racial segregation,โ€ Theweeklychallenger.com, January 12, 2017, http://theweeklychallenger.com/vivian-malone-civil-rights-hero-who-defied-racial-segregation/; Debbie Elliott, โ€œVivian Malone Jones dies at 63,โ€ Npr.org, October 15, 2005, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4960645.

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