Forty years ago this week Gov. George C. Wallace tried to block the admission of two black students to the all-white University of Alabama.
Wallace's defiant "stand in the schoolhouse door" failed to keep out minorities: With about 19,600 students, Alabama's student body is now 13% black.
This week, the university will hold a three-day observance for the anniversary of Wallace's infamous stand. Honorees include the two black students who faced him that day -- Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood. Jones became the first black graduate of Alabama in 1965. Hood left after a few months but returned to receive his doctorate in 1997.
