Research Paper for Vivian Malone Jones

Research paper for Vivian Malone Jones (July 15, 1942 – October 13, 2005) 

Huizhi Ren

WNMS 222-001

Vivian Malone Jones was one of the first two African-Americans to enter the University of Alabama in 1963. She was also the first African-American to graduate from the University of Alabama two years later with a bachelor degree in business management.

Vivian Malone Jones was born in Mobile Alabama in 1942. Her father did service in maintenance and her mother was a domestic servant. Both of her parents are worked at Brookley Air Force Base. During the working experiences, her parents have deep feelings in the significance of education power. Her parents did not have the access to education when they were young. So they hope their children could receive high quality of education, and with the acceptance in school education and edifying, their children could bootstrap themselves into better lives. They sent Vivian Malone’s brothers to the college at Tuskegee University. Due to their personal experiences in racial prejudices and discriminations, they have strong senses in pursuing equality. They emphasized the importance of Civil Rights and often attended in local meetings, donations and activities in the black community that did effort in promoting equality and desegregation. With the influences from her parents, Vivian Malone was often involved in community organizations to eliminate racial discrimination when she was a teenager. Moreover, she worked closely with local leaders of the movements to work for desegregation in schools.

She became a member of the National Honor Society when she was in the Central High School. Vivian was attended in Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in 1961, which was one of the few colleges for black students in the state at that time. She went this university for two years and she received a bachelor’s degree in business education afterwards. Later, she occurred to have interest in accounting field, which is not offered by the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in that period. The bachelor’s degree that she earned was issued to her before the university had been fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In order to pursue her accredited degree in accounting, she have to transfer to another university.

In 1961, Vivian Malone knew a plan organized by the local Non-Partisan Voter League to desegregate the University of Alabama’s branch schools in Mobile, the University of South Alabama. Because of her good performance in high school, she became one of a number of local African-American students suggested by the organization to apply to the Mobile campus. There are at least 200 African students applied to the university, but their applications are rejected by admissions. The university denied their admissions to make them unqualified for enrollment. It is understandable of this behavior in that time. The university would not admit the African-American students because of the resistance to school desegregation. Those African-American students who applied to Mobile campus were investigated by the university’s Department of Public Safety, including Vivian Malone.