Joan Trumpauer Mulholland

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

Early life Joan Mulholland, born as Joan Trumpauer in Washington, D.C., was raised in nearby 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 later recalled an occasion that forever changed her perspective, when visiting her family in Georgia during the summer. Mulholland and her childhood friend Mary dared each other to walk into a "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 to attend 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.

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

Freedom Riders and prison

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 the towns the riders stopped in. 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. After this event, many believed they had seen the end of the Freedom Rides. Instead, a call was made to Mulholland in D.C. and to Diane Nash to ask for more riders.

Many of the freedom riders remained behind bars for about a month, but Mulholland had no plans and no place to go until school opened in the fall. She served her two-month sentence and additional time to work off the fine she owed. Each day in prison took three dollars off the fine. She then enrolled in Tougaloo College in Jackson, where she had the opportunity to meet Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Ed King, and Anne Moody.

Around the time Mulholland arrived at Woolworth's, Tougaloo student Memphis Norman had been dragged to the floor by former police officer Benny Oliver, who wore tennis shoes, and was being kicked repeatedly. The assault continued until an undercover police officer arrested both Norman and Oliver. Moody and Pearlena Lewis were both later pulled from their seats. Moody had been thrown against the counter. Around this time, Mulholland noticed a man walk past Moody with a knife and called out, "Annie, he's got a knife." She then walked to the counter and sat down next to Moody and Lewis. People started to yell slurs such as "traitor," "communist," "black bitch," and "white nigger." Mulholland was lifted by her waist by one man and Moody was lifted from her stool by two high school boys. Both girls were dragged out of the store by their hair.

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom On August 28, 1963, Mulholland attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Mulholland took a piece of glass from the explosion, glued it to black ebony wood, and fashioned a necklace out of it. She also carried a piece of the glass in her wallet for years, feeling it every time she reached for her change.

Legacy In the PBS documentary Freedom Riders (airdate May 16, 2011), Mulholland is featured as one of 40 former college students from across the United States who embarked on a bus ride from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans, on May 6–16, 2011, retracing the original route of the Freedom Riders. In her interview for Freedom Riders, she recalls the harrowing conditions at Parchman.