Progressive Heroes: Vivian Malone

Vivian Malone Jones, a Mobile native who overcame former Gov. George Wallace's infamous "stand in the schoolhouse door" to help integrate the University of Alabama, died Thursday, two days after suffering a stroke. She was 63.

Jones, one of two black students to break the color barrier at the university in 1963, became the school's first black graduate in 1965. Acquaintances remembered her Thursday as a pioneer whose quiet determination made her the perfect person to do it.

"She was a remarkable woman. She was full of grace and enormous courage. She knew exactly what she was doing and why she was doing it," said Culpepper Clark, the dean of the College of Communication and Information Sciences and author of the definitive book on the university's integration. "She was aware of the (dangers), and she did it anyway. That is the definition of courage.

Links with more on Vivian Malone's life:
Mobile Register Obit
LA Times Obit