Hero Vivian Malone

One of the two first black students to brave hatred and mistreatment as students at the University of Alabama in the early 1960s was Mobile native Vivian Malone, now Vivian Malone Jones.

She and James Hood were successfully enrolled there in June 1963, following segregationist Gov. George Wallace's theatrical "stand" at the entrance to the university building where registration was being held. Wallace backed down in the face of overwhelming force in the persons of federalized National Guard troops.

Malone and Hood were made miserable by their classmates, although the university's administration did its best to protect their safety. Hood dropped out after a couple of months and enrolled elsewhere. Malone, however, stuck it out and in 1965, became that university's first black graduate, receiving a degree in business administration.

Hood returned to the campus many years later and in 1997, earned his doctorate in education.

Malone married a physician and worked for both the U.S. Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. She died of a stroke in 2005 at age 63.

Many heroes are large and tough. She was a slender, pretty girl who dared to be a trailblazer.