Montevallo, Ala.— Acclaimed civil rights activist, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland will visit the University of Montevallo as the keynote speaker for the University’s Black History Month events.
Trumpauer Mullholland will be on campus on Tuesday, Feb. 16 to deliver a lecture on her time as a white southern woman activist during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement. The lecture will take place at 7 p.m. in Anna Irvin Dining Hall.
The University will also offer a screening of “An Ordinary Hero: The True Story of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland” on Monday, Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. in Humanities Hall Auditorium. Both the lecture and screening will be free and open to the public.
A Civil Rights Legend, Trumpauer Mulholland participated in over 50 sit-ins and protests by the time she was 23 years old. She was a Freedom Rider, a participant in the Jackson Woolworth’s Sit-in and helped plan the March on Washington.
Her actions resulted in being disowned by her family, shot at, attacked, being put on death row and hunted down by the Klan for execution.
Her path has crossed with some of the biggest names in the Civil Rights Movement: Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evans, Fannie Lou Hamer, Robert F. Kennedy, John Lewis, Diane Nash, John Salter, Julian Bond and Harry Belafonte. She has also met such luminaries of the period including Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Marlon Brando, Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson.
Most recently, she has been a recipient of the 2015 National Civil Rights Museum’s Freedom Award and was recognized along with other female freedom riders by President Barack Obama. She has also received Delta Sigma Theta, Inc.’s Annual Award of Honor, the Anti-Defamation League Annual Heroes against Hate Award, and was recognized with a resolution passed in her home state of Virginia honoring her life-long achievements and contributions.
Trumpauer Mulholland has appeared in several books including “Growing Up In Mississippi”, “Breach of Peace”, and “We Shall Not Be Moved”. She has also appeared on television programs such as “Oprah” and “CBS Nightly News”.
Her story and experiences were highlighted in award-winning documentaries including “An Ordinary Hero”, PBS’s “Freedom Riders”, “Standing on My Sister’s Shoulders” and the groundbreaking film “Eyes on the Prize”.
For more information on the lecture and screening events at the University please contact Carrie Smith, Media Relations and Communications Specialist, at
205-665-6227.
About The University of Montevallo
The University of Montevallo seeks to be unique in higher education in Alabama, by providing students from throughout the state an affordable, geographically accessible, “small college” public higher educational experience of high quality. Settled within an atmosphere of national historic beauty and offering a tradition of innovative cultural expression, we seek to provide professional programs supported by a broad base of arts and sciences that are designed for intellectual and personal growth in the pursuit of meaningful employment and responsible, informed citizenship.