Here’s a little interesting information about George Wallace. He was first and foremost a politician.
Before his election as governor he was a circuit judge. There was a single black lawyer in his district. Reportedly, if an out-of-town white lawyer were to be disrespectful to this man Wallace would quickly put him in his place. If a black lawyer were to visit from out of town, Wallace would send word during the lunch recess that he would like to speak to him for a moment in chambers. When the black lawyer would arrive there would be a plate of sandwiches and a pitcher of lemonade on his desk and Wallace would ask the lawyer to join him for lunch. There was no restaurant in town which served blacks.
In his 1958 run for governor, Wallace ran on a progressive platform in which he expressed the required support for segregation, but without a great deal of fire. He was endorsed by the NAACP, in large part because his opponent, John Patterson was openly supported by the KKK. Patterson won. Following his defeat, Wallace told an aide, “I was outn**ed by John Patterson. And I’ll tell you here and now, I will never be outn**ed again.” And he wasn’t.
At the end of his career Wallace was actually supported by black voters, and why shouldn’t they. He supported liberal causes which they supported. Throughout the South a number of staunch segregationists changed their tune and became very popular with black voters. Politics can be a strange business.