The public is invited to participate in a conversation with legendary civil rights activist and Arlington resident Joan Trumpauer Mulholland at noon on Wednesday, March 2 at Marymount University\u0092s Gerard Dining Hall. The event will include a talk, clips from the documentary \u0093An Ordinary Hero: The True Story of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland\u0094 and a question-and-answer session.<\/p>\n
Raised in Arlington, by the time Mulholland was 19, she had participated in more than three dozen sit-ins and protests. She was housed on death row in Mississippi\u0092s notorious Parchman Penitentiary with other Freedom Riders. She was also involved in one of the most famous and violent sit-ins at the Jackson Woolworth lunch counter and helped plan and organize the March on Washington.<\/p>\n
\u0093When I was 19 my big worry was finding a date for a fraternity dance,\u0094 said Dr. Mark Benbow, an assistant professor of history and politics at Marymount. \u0093When she was that age she was facing down the Klan. She\u0092s a great speaker and I hope she\u0092ll inspire some of my students to be more politically aware and active.\u0094<\/p>\n
Because of her activism, Mulholland was disowned by her family and targeted for execution by the Ku Klux Klan. She crossed paths with some of the biggest names in the Civil Rights Movement, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Robert Kennedy and John Lewis. She has been written about in several books and has appeared on Oprah, CBS Nightly News and other television shows. Her experiences have been highlighted in award-winning documentaries like PBS\u0092s \u0093Freedom Riders\u0094 and the film \u0093Eyes on the Prize.\u0094<\/p>\n
The 2016 American Heritage Conversation is sponsored by Marymount\u0092s Department of History and Politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The public is invited to participate in a conversation with legendary civil rights activist and Arlington resident Joan Trumpauer Mulholland at noon on Wednesday, March 2 at Marymount University\u0092s Gerard Dining Hall. The event will include a talk, clips from the documentary \u0093An Ordinary Hero: The True Story of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland\u0094 and a question-and-answer […]<\/p>\n