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I was sort of distracted last week, so I missed it, but I saw from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jmhm's journal that Vivian Malone Jones had died. She was only 63.
Vivian Malone was the first black graduate of the University of Alabama. She and James Hood were the students whose admission gave rise to George Wallace's infamous "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!" speech on the steps of the UA administration building.
She proved him wrong.
Racism still exists in this country -- the aftermath of Katrina, and the comments of Bill Bennett only highlight unspoken tensions. But we have come a far way from the days when it took an act of great courage for Vivian Marshall to claim what any white Alabamian of equal qualifications would have simply taken for granted.
[Edit: I didn't front-load the iTunes. I didn't even notice it until I had already posted the entry. Hmm.]
jmhm's journal that Vivian Malone Jones had died. She was only 63.Vivian Malone was the first black graduate of the University of Alabama. She and James Hood were the students whose admission gave rise to George Wallace's infamous "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!" speech on the steps of the UA administration building.
She proved him wrong.
Racism still exists in this country -- the aftermath of Katrina, and the comments of Bill Bennett only highlight unspoken tensions. But we have come a far way from the days when it took an act of great courage for Vivian Marshall to claim what any white Alabamian of equal qualifications would have simply taken for granted.
[Edit: I didn't front-load the iTunes. I didn't even notice it until I had already posted the entry. Hmm.]