Joan Trumpauer Mulholland

Joan Trumpauer Mulholland (born September 14, 1941) is an American civil rights activist who was active in the 1960s.

In the spring of 1960, Mulholland participated in her first of many sit-ins.

Her civil rights activism was not understood, being a white, southern woman.

She was branded as mentally ill and was taken in for testing after her first arrest.

Out of fear of shakedowns, Mulholland wore a skirt with a deep, ruffled hem where she would hide paper that she had crumpled until it was soft and then folded neatly.

With the paper, Mulholland was able to write a diary about her experiences that still exists.

In this diary, she explains what they were given to eat and how they sang almost all night long.

She even mentioned the segregation in the jail cells and stated, "I think all the girls in here are gems, but I feel more in common with the Negro girls & wish I was locked in with them instead of these atheist Yankees."

She has stated she got a lot of support from the faculty at Duke University, but not from the administration.

She dropped out of university in the fall, after being pressured by the Dean of Women to stop her activism.

She was one of the Freedom Riders who was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi in 1961, and was confined for two months in the Maximum Security Unit of the Mississippi State Penitentiary (known as "Parchman Farm").

The following year she was the first white student to enroll at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi and served as the local secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

She later worked as a teacher, and after her retirement she established the Joan Trumpauer Mulholland Foundation.

The foundation is dedicated to educating youth about the Civil Rights Movement and how to become activists in their communities.

Joan Mulholland, born as Joan Trumpauer in Washington, D.C., was raised in Arlington, Virginia.

Her great-grandparents were slave owners in Georgia, and after the United States Civil War, they became sharecroppers.

Her mother was the first in her family to marry a "Yankee".

Both of her parents had government jobs.

Mulholland attended a Presbyterian church and Sunday school regularly.

She practiced memorizing verses as well such as: "In as much as you have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me," "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, for such is the Kingdom of God."

The morality she was taught at church was in direct contrast to the segregation around her, and the hatred her parents espoused.

Mulholland later recalled an occasion that forever changed her perspective, when visiting her family in Georgia during summer.

Mulholland and her childhood friend Mary dared each other to walk into "nigger" town, which was located on the other side of the train tracks.

Mulholland stated the experience opened her eyes: "No one said anything to me, but the way they shrunk back and became invisible, showed me that they believed that they weren't as good as me."

At the age of 10, Mulholland began to recognize the economic divide between the races.

At that moment, she vowed to herself that if she could do anything to help be a part of the Civil Rights Movement and change the world, she would.

Her desire for activism created tension and a divide between her and her mother.

She had planned on going to a small church university in Ohio or Kentucky, but her mother would not allow it out of fear of integration.

Instead, her mother insisted she apply to Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where she was accepted.

Mulholland attended Duke University for a year before she decided to drop out, in search for a greater meaning in her life.

Having nowhere to go, she obtained menial jobs while putting efforts towards the Nonviolent Action Group from Howard University.

Duke University had separate campuses for men and women.

In the first and second week of school, women rushed and pledged for sororities.

Mulholland and her roommate were uninterested and went to a different event held by the International Club, instead.

This behavior was unusual for Duke and the university sent a counselor to visit the girls to see if they were unhappy.

In the summer of 1961, the historic Freedom Riders, a group of black and white activists, challenged the legally segregated buses and bus stations of the south by refusing to travel separately.

Thirteen riders left on two Greyhound buses en route to New Orleans from Washington, D.C.

Anniston, Alabama was the most dangerous of all towns where the riders stopped.

On Mother's Day, the two buses arrived in Anniston and were set on fire.

Churchgoers and their children were reportedly watching as the riders attempted to escape the flames of the bus, only to be beaten by the townspeople until the police stopped the chaos.