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In this June 9, 1963 file photo, James A. Hood and Vivian J. Malone of Alabama pose in New York. Alabama Gov. George Wallace said he would personally bar them from registering at the University of Alabama despite a restraining order. (AP Photo/John Lindsay, File)

Civil rights pioneer James Hood dies

1/19/2013

James Hood, a civil rights activist who integrated the University of Alabama by defying armed state troopers, has died at age 70. Hood was one of the three black students whom Governor George Wallace tried to stop from entering the university on June 11, 1963. Despite Wallace’s infamous “stand in the door,” Hood and his fellow students were escorted in by the National Guard.  Hood left the university after a few months, but later earned bachelor and master’s degrees in Michigan. He worked in Detroit as a deputy police chief and returned to UA to earn a doctorate in 1997. [Source]

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