James A. Hood, who along with Vivian Malone Jones, racially integrated the University of Alabama in 1963, has died in Gadsden, Alabama. He was 70 years old.
On June 11, 1963, Hood and Malone accompanied by federal marshals, National Guard troops, and deputy attorney general of the United States, Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, sought to register at the university. Governor George Wallace of Alabama made his symbolic “stand in the schoolhouse door,” but had agreed to allow the Black students to enroll.
Hood remained on campus for only two months. He transferred to Wayne State University in Detroit where he earned a bachelor’s degree. He then earned a master’s degree in criminal justice and sociology from Michigan State University. He later served as deputy police chief in the city of Detroit and taught at Madison Area Technical College in Wisconsin. In 1997, he earned a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary studies at the University of Alabama. Dr. Hood retired from his teaching position in Wisconsin in 2002 and returned to live in Alabama.
