Wallace gives apology and award to black woman he tried to keep out of Univ. of Alabama

It's never too late to right a wrong. Just ask former Alabama Governor George C. Wallace who, after more than three decades, attempted to do just that with his recent apology to the Black woman he tried to keep out of the University of Alabama with his "stand in the schoolhouse door" protest in 1963.

The 77-year-old Wallace, who due to Parkinson's disease and paralysis is a shadow of the solid segregationist he was in the 1960s, met with Vivian Malone Jones in Montgomery, Al, prior to honoring her with an award--named in memory of his wife--that recognizes women who made major improvements in the state.

"There is no question Wallace and I will be remembered for the stand in the schoolhouse door. There is no way you can overcome that," said Mrs. Jones, who recently retired from the Environmental

Protection Agency. "But the best that can happen at this point is to say it was a mistake. We all make mistakes." Mrs. Jones also said that during a private meeting prior to the awards ceremony, the former governor apologized for the confrontation.

"He said he felt that it was wrong, that it shouldn't have happened. He said he felt the state of Alabama is better now than it was then as a result of what has happened through the integration and the desegregation of the schools here," said the 54-year-old Mrs. Jones, a Mobile native who now resides in Atlanta.

"Vivian Malone Jones was at the center of the fight over states' rights and conducted herself with grace, strength and above all, courage. She deserves to be rewarded for her actions in that air of uncertainty," said the former governor.

Thirty-three years ago, Wallace threw Mrs. Jones and James Hood into the national spotlight by standing in the door of the university's auditorium in a futile attempt to keep them from becoming the university's first Black students.