Mugshot of Freedom Rider Joan Trumpauer
Joan Trumpauer Mulholland was a Civil Rights activist who was first motivated to fight racial and economic injustice at age 10. A student at Duke University, Trumpauer‘s first run-in with the law came in the spring of 1960 when Joan participated in her first of many sit-ins. Being a white, Southern woman, her civil rights activism was not understood. She was branded as mentally ill and was taken in for testing after her first arrest. Out of fear of shakedowns, Joan wore a skirt with a deep, ruffled hem where she would hide paper that she had crumpled until it was soft and then folded neatly. With this paper, Joan was able to write a diary about her experiences that still exists. In this diary, she explains what they were given to eat and how they sang almost all night long. She even mentioned the segregation in the jail cells and stated, “I think all the girls in here are gems but I feel more in common with the Negro girls & wish I was locked in with them instead of these atheist Yankees.”
In 1961, She and eight others were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi and refused bail. Trumpauer served three months in jail, and later enrolled in the traditionally black Tougaloo college, which had just started accepting white students.
She spent her later career working at the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Department of Commerce, and the Justice Department and is still alive today.
