Minnijean Brown Trickey, a veteran of the civil rights movement in the United States, will speak at Laurentian University Nov. 25.
The lecture is free and open to all. It will take place at 8 p.m. in the Brenda Wallace Reading Room (third floor of the J.N. Desmarais Library).
Brown Trickey was one of the Little Rock Nine, the black high school students who desegregated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957.
While the world watched, the students were turned away from the all-white school, first by the Arkansas National Guard and then by an angry white mob. Days later, in a seminal moment in US history, the students entered the school, protected by 1,200 armed U.S. troops. For the remainder of the school year, soldiers escorted the students to and from school.
Brown Trickey has devoted her life to the causes of peace, the environment, and human rights. She holds a bachelor's degree in Native Human Services from Laurentian University and a master's degree from Carleton University.
In 2007, Laurentian conferred upon her an honorary doctorate of laws. In the administration of President Bill Clinton, she served in the Department of the Interior as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Diversity. She is a recipient of the U.S. Congressional Medal.
Entitled "Little Rock Revisited," Brown Trickey's lecture will re-examine this seminal moment in the history of education and civil rights.
For more information, phone Stephen Azzi, Department of History, at 675-1151, ext. 4190.
