Vivian Malone Jones

Vivian Malone Jones was one of the two students whose enrollment Alabama Governor George C. Wallace attempted to block by positioning himself in the doorway of Foster Auditorium. In 1965, she became the first African-American student to graduate from the University, receiving a bachelor of arts in business management.

A native of Mobile, Ala., Jones earned a bachelor’s degree at Alabama A&M, a predominantly black university. She then applied to UA’s School of Commerce and Business Administration and was admitted as a junior. Upon her graduation, she joined the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

She went on to become director of civil rights and urban affairs and director of environmental justice for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before her 1996 retirement. That year, she also was chosen by the George Wallace Family Foundation as the inaugural recipient of the Lurleen B. Wallace Award of Courage. In 2000, she was awarded a doctorate of humane letters from UA.

Jones died in 2005 from complications following a stroke.