Each month Newtown Allies For Change (NAFC) shines a spotlight on a local person, business, or organization that has demonstrated exemplary behavior of allyship of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC). This month, the grassroots advocacy group has chosen a national figure, Civil Rights icon Joan Trumpauer Mulholland. There is perhaps no better example of allyship in action than Mulholland, a woman whose fearless commitment to dismantling racism is an inspiration to all who value racial equity.

NAFC spent an evening with Mulholland, via Zoom, in November 2021. Having the opportunity to engage in conversation with a woman considered by many to be a living legend remains a highlight for the group. She shared her evolution as an activist with the participants, explaining how, even as a child, she was deeply disturbed by disparities she witnessed between living conditions of white people and Black people.

Lessons in Sunday School and a growing awareness of racial injustices combined to ignite in young Joan the desire to bring about changes she knew were morally correct. Later, as a freshman at Duke University, she participated in a Presbyterian youth group, where she learned of public opportunities to protest racial segregation. While fighting for racial equity was consistent with her Christian faith, it was not consistent with her family’s values: Mulholland’s great-grandparents had owned enslaved Black people in Georgia and her mother remained a segregationist.

By the time she was in college, Mulholland’s relationship with her family had become strained. Her parents believed that her passion for justice and burgeoning activism were signs of mental illness — and they sought testing to prove it. But that didn’t stop her. In fact, she was just getting started.

According to The Joan Trumpauer Mulholland Foundation website, Mulholland ultimately participated in more than 50 sit-ins and demonstrations during the Civil Rights Movement of the tumultuous 1960s, including some of the most consequential of them. She was 19 years old on Mothers’ Day 1961, when chaos erupted in Anniston, Ala. Thirteen Freedom Riders who had set out from Washington, D.C., had been brutally attacked. An angry white mob set their buses on fire and beat the activists as they were escaping the flames, moments before the vehicles exploded. Soon after, Mulholland received a call requesting more Freedom Riders. Along with a group that included Stokely Carmichael and other civil rights activists, she traveled by plane, then train, to Jackson, Miss., where the group was quickly arrested. Mulholland spent the next two months incarcerated in a maximum security unit of the Mississippi State Penitentiary. Once released she made the decision to leave the prestige and racial comfort of Duke and transfer to Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss., becoming the first white student to attend the historically Black college. It proved to be a pivotal decision as it was there that she became acquainted with Medgar Evans, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Anne Moody, who would all become Black Civil Rights heroes.

On May 28, 1963, Mulholland was part of another historic protest, this time against segregation at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Jackson, Miss. An iconic photograph taken from that protest features Mulholland sitting at the counter between Moody and John Salter Jr, a man with Native roots. A cut on the back of Salter’s head is clear in the photo; not visible are the cigarette burns he sustained that day. The room is packed with white men of all ages, including some, bespectacled in sunglasses, thought to be FBI agents. A white man is standing behind Mulholland, eyes smiling, as he pours sugar on her head. When she spoke with NAFC, she discussed her role as a “spotter” that day, chosen to carefully assess the situation. She kept a dime in her pocket so that if things got out of hand or a message needed to be relayed, she could use the pay phone.

Laura Main, who was on the NAFC call with Mulholland, believes that story is illustrative of allyship; that even seemingly small tasks — such as making a phone call — can be very valuable in effecting change.

Mulholland, a young white woman in her early 20s, put her very body on the line to stand with Black Americans, fighting for them to have basic civil rights. Mulholland’s sense of justice, born from her Christian upbringing, fueled her to become not just an ally in name, but a true activist, turning allyship into action. Even amid persistent questions from family about her mental state, she remained focused on the work and steadfast in her resolve.

Now in her 80s, Mulholland’s work continues through her foundation (joantrumpauermulholland.org). If readers wish to work for equity, but lack the courage or inspiration to do so, NAFC encourages them to learn more about Joan Mulholland, a brave, young woman who was not afraid to fight for the rights of others, during a pivotal time in our country’s history.

Newtown Allies For Change is a grassroots organization that centers BIPOC in Newtown. Each month they hope to honor individuals or businesses that have demonstrated selfless, authentic allyship. If there is an individual or business that you would like to nominate for Allyship In Action, please email your submission with the name and why they are deserving of a shoutout to newtownallies@gmail.com with Allyship In Action as the subject.