Minnijean Brown-Trickey (born September 11, 1941)[1] was one of a group of African-American teenagers known as the "Little Rock Nine." On September 25, 1957, under the gaze of 1,200 armed soldiers and a worldwide audience, Minnijean Brown-Trickey faced down an angry mob and helped to desegregate Central High. She was later suspended from Little Rock Central High School in 1957 due to an incident in which her bowl of chilli was [2] spilled on a white student in the cafeteria; she was expelled in February 1958 [3] after verbally abusing a white female student.
In her adult life, Brown-Trickey would continue to be an activist for minority rights. She lived in Canada for a number of years in the 1980s and 1990s, getting involved in First Nations activism and studying social work at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. She has received the Congressional Gold Medal, the Wolf Award, the Spingarn Medal, and many other citations and awards.[4] Under the Clinton administration, she served for a time as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of the Interior responsible for diversity.[5]
A documentary film about Brown-Trickey entitled Journey to Little Rock: The Untold Story of Minnijean Brown Trickey (2002) was produced by North-East Pictures in Ottawa, where Brown-Trickey lived during the 1990s. In 2007, Laurentian also honored Trickey with an honorary doctorate of laws. [6]
Brown-Trickey has moved back to Little Rock, and resides there with her mother and sister. Her daughter Spirit Trickey also resides in Little Rock, and is employed at Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, where she interprets her mother's, and the other eight students' struggle to enter Central.[7]
Television portrayals
Brown-Trickey has been depicted in two made-for-television movies about the Little Rock Nine. She was portrayed by Regina Taylor in the 1981 CBS movie Crisis at Central High,[8] and by Monica Calhoun in the 1993 Disney Channel movie The Ernest Green Story.[9] Minnijean is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.
References
- ^ "Minnijean Brown Trickey". 2007 Honorees. National Women's History Project. http://www.nwhp.org/whm/trickey_bio.php. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
- ^ Revisiting the Little Rock Chili Incident
- ^ Minnijean Brown Trickey, America.gov
- ^ "Minnijean Brown Trickey". 2007 Honorees. National Women's History Project. http://www.nwhp.org/whm/trickey_bio.php. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
- ^ "Minnijean Brown Trickey". 2007 Honorees. National Women's History Project. http://www.nwhp.org/whm/trickey_bio.php. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
- ^ The Sudbury Star - Ontario, CA
- ^ History Lessons: Arkansas Times
- ^ Crisis at Central High (full cast list) at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ The Ernest Green Story at the Internet Movie Database
External links
- Minnijean Brown-Trickey Speaker Page at The Lavin Agency
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