June 11, 1963: Tuscaloosa, Alabama, The University of Alabama campus. Vivian Malone, a young black woman, enrolled as a student at the university, but not without opposition. Federal troops were there to ensure her entrance into the school, but her way was blocked by Governor George Wallace. Holding out for racism and segregation, the governor failed in his attempt. Vivian became the first African-American student ever to graduate from the University of Alabama.

Vivian wasn't the only African-American that day seeking to enroll at the university. James Hood was at her side, but he was scared and needed encouragement. Vivian helped him along and slipped him a simple little note, a prayer: "Whatever may be our adversary this day, our Father, help us to face it with courage, for it can be conquered when thou art with us. In faith we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen."

Governor Wallace regretted his actions of June 11, and years later was taken in his wheelchair into the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, and there asked the black people to forgive him for his hardness. The governor also regretted how he treated Vivian that day and sought out her forgiveness. He wanted to make amends before he died, and he wanted to meet her. Vivian did meet him and told him that she had already forgiven him years earlier. Interviewed in 2003, she was asked about this:

"You said you'd forgiven him many years earlier?"

"Oh yes."

"And why did you do that?"

Her reply: "This may sound weird. I'm a Christian, and I grew up in the church. And I was taught that—just as I was taught that no other person was better than I—that we were all equal in the eyes of God. I was also taught that you forgive people, no matter what. And that was why I had to do it. I didn't feel as if I had a choice."