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An Ordinary Hero

Conversation with Joan Trumpauer Mulholland

Joan and her son Loki Mulholland, an author and documentarian, discussed how Joan’s faith led her to accompany her Black friends and others in the struggle against racial injustice in our country beginning in the 1960s and to commit her life to this ongoing work.


It was an afternoon of stories and connection—a time to learn from a veteran Civil Rights activist and consider how these lessons apply to the ongoing work in our time. Download the program (large print, pdf)


All event photos courtesy of Glenn Cook Photography.


Book Discussion

Sunday, July 13 & 20, 11 AM – 12 PM: Get Back to the Counter: 7 Lessons from Civil Rights Icon Joan Trumpauer Mulholland

Details

Joan and Loki, seated in front of the altar with a video screen behind them, speak to the audience

Have you ever wondered what you would have done during the Civil Rights Movement?

Are you doing it now?

In the 1960s, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland was a White college student from the South who put herself on the front lines of the Civil Rights struggle. She participated in the Freedom Rides, enrolled as the first White student at Tougaloo College, a Historically Black College, contributed to the Jackson sit-in movement, and was active in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

Closeup of book cover, We Shall Not Be Moved by M.J. O'Brien, shows part of a black, white photo: A White man and woman and a Black woman sit calmly at a 1963 lunch counter, their hair and clothes covered in condiments. A glowering crowd of young and adult men stand close behind them, 1 pouring sugar on the woman seated in the middle

We Shall Not Be Moved

Jackson, Mississippi, Woolworth's lunch counter, May 28, 1963. Seated left to right, Tougaloo College professor John Salter, and students, Joan Trumpauer (Mulholland) and Anne Moody.


Photo: Book cover: We Shall Not Be Moved by M.J. O'Brien

Loki established the Joan Trumpauer Mulholland Foundation in 2013 after screening his documentary, An Ordinary Hero, at Ole Miss (the University of Mississippi). It was evident that young people weren’t learning about the incredible history and lessons of the Civil Rights Movement. “We had college educated students come up to us and say, ‘We never learned any of this,’ which was striking because 80% of the film took place in their state,” Loki recalls.


Based on this experience, and many others like it, Loki created the foundation to preserve, share and continue his mother’s legacy while teaching others about the Civil Rights Movement and how they can make a difference. Learn more

Big or small, then & now

Joan and Loki also discussed racial justice in the current moment and the importance of our individual and community efforts, no matter how big or small, in the collective struggle for equality for all.

"I wouldn't really say God had planned this out for me all along, but certainly the opportunities for me to think about things and to act on them were there."

Joan Trumpauer Mulholland

Q&A

Audience questions & answers

"It takes all of us to make things better. It doesn’t matter how old you are. Find a problem, get some friends together, and go fix it."

Joan Trumpauer Mulholland

A view from over Joan's shoulder as she signs her book, She Stood for Freedom. She's written Freedom! above her signature

She Stood for Freedom

A view from over Joan's shoulder as she signs She Stood for Freedom, a children's book by Loki that paints the picture of Joan’s work to make a difference during the Civil Rights Movement and now. She's written Freedom! above her signature.