Joan Trumpauer Mulholland
Change Maker
Mulholland’s booking photo for “breach of peace.” Image courtesy of Archives and Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives and History
As part of South Brunswick Reads for Change, we are proud to announce that Freedom Rider and Civil Rights Activist, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland will speak to our school via Zoom on Monday, May 23rd during 2nd Block in an assembly titled Change Maker: A Conversation with Civil Rights Activist, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland.
Who is Joan Trumpauer Mulholland?
As stated by the JTM Foundation:
Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, a recipient of the 2015 National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Award, is a Civil Rights Icon who participated in over 50 sit-ins and demonstrations by the time she was 23 years old. She was a Freedom Rider, a participant in the Jackson Woolworth’s Sit-in, the March on Washington, the Meredith March and the Selma to Montgomery March. For her actions she was disowned by her family, attacked, shot at, cursed at, put on death row and hunted down by the Klan for execution. Her path has crossed with some of the biggest names in the Civil Rights Movement: Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, John Lewis, Diane Nash and Julian Bond. She has appeared in numerous books and documentaries and has received numerous awards and recognition for her work in the Civil Rights Movement including the 2019 International Civil Rights Museum Trailblazer Award, the 2018 “I Am a Man” Award, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated Annual Award of Honor and the Anti-Defamation League Annual Heroes Against Hate Award.
Resources to use in the classroom
Click here to access educational videos on JTM from the Mulholland Foundation
We will ask all English teachers to show the thirty-five minute version to students the class immediately before the visit.
The link also includes a number of clips from the longer video that might be useful in helping to introduce Joan and her work to our students.
Freedom Riders, American Experience on PBS
Joan Trumpauer Mulholland in "Uprisings: Stories about the work of civil rights."
How a Lunch Counter Sit-In Became an Iconic Civil Rights Moment
Who Were the Freedom Riders?
Poetry and the Civil Rights Movement
The Poetry Foundation presents a collection of full-text poems by award-winning authors connected to the Civil Rights Movement. This page also includes videos, articles, and additional resources to the time period.
The Civil Rights Movement Archive offers primary sources that include photographs, speeches, published articles on the Freedom Riders campaign, as well as interviews and oral history reports.
The full-text of a seventy-page oral history interview with Joan Trumpauer Mulholland is included in the resource collection.
1961: The Freedom Riders" by Merrill Perlman
(Originally published in The New York Times Upfront Magazine, 1/10/2011.)
This Upfront article provides an approachable explanation of the dangers faced by the Freedom Riders in Mississippi during the summer of 1961.
ABC-Clio American History - Freedom Riders
(This is a database article. Have you forgotten the password? Click here.)
Morning Edition - Ahead of Anniversary, Freedom Riders Remember
(NPR news recording, from 4/7/2011)
"Analysis: Think all millennials are woke? A new poll suggests some are still sleeping on racism" by Nicole Lewis
(This is a database article. Have you forgotten the password? Click here.)
This article published in the Washington Post on 8/10/17 provides statistics on millennials view of race. The author concludes that many would probably not have boarded the buses as a Freedom Rider, despite their belief to the contrary. Joan Trumpauer Mulholland is used as the introductory example.
Who Were the Freedom Riders?
(This is a database article. Have you forgotten the password? Click here.)
This article, published after Representative John Lewis' death in 2020, explains the start, intention, and results of the Freedom Rides in 1961.
Opinion - Don't Be a Karen, Be a Joan
This Op-Ed, published on 6/5/20 in the wake of George Floyd's death, features extensive quotes from Joan Trumpauer Mulholland on the importance of white Americans confronting racism when they see it in our society.
World Book - Freedom Riders
(This is a database article. Have you forgotten the password? Click here.)
This article is readable article with a nice text-to-speech feature. Appropriate for all level learners.
