The Online Reflector

Minnijean Brown Trickey, one of the Little Rock Nine, will speak on campus for the University of Indianapolis’ annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration on Jan. 17.

The event, which will be held the first day classes commence for Semester II, is part of the University Series and will be held in Ransburg Auditorium at 12 p.m. Class schedules will be adjusted so that students may attend.

In Little Rock, Ark., in September of 1957, nine African-American teenagers stared segregation in the face and are remembered throughout history for it.

Known as the Little Rock Nine, they were the first African-American students to attend Little Rock Central High School and faced blatant racism from their classmates, teachers and even the Governor of Arkansas.

Those nine students are remembered as an important part of the American Civil Rights Movement.

“I remember the mobs of people were huge outside the school,” Trickey said. “They were roaring like the crowd at a sporting event. [They were] screaming things like ‘lynch them,’ ‘kill them.’ It was terrifying.”

Trickey, then only 16 years old, had a tumultuous year following the integration of Little Rock Central High School.
One white student hit her with her purse, which contained six metal combination locks.

However, the violence and hate didn’t stay within the walls of the high school. Trickey explained that hateful phone calls, windows smashed by bricks and burning crosses in their front lawns plagued the nine students even when they were safely at home.
“The violence was constant,” Trickey said. “It was perpetual terror.”

Assistant Professor of Education Terrence Harewood will introduce Trickey at the event. He explained that this period in history was significant not just for the United States, but the entire world. However, he feels that many people still have not learned about it or have forgotten its significance.

“The Little Rock Nine were an extraordinary group of teenagers,” Harewood said. “They were ordinary people who did extraordinary things, and students who attend the event will be challenged to do extraordinary things themselves.”

Executive Director of Student Services Dan Stoker was instrumental in bringing Trickey to campus. He explained that university officials planning this event feel it is important that the students, faculty and staff be given the opportunity to interact with Trickey.

The event will include a panel of three students who will ask questions and act as liaisons for the student body. There also will be a reception at which students, faculty and staff will have the chance to meet and talk with Trickey.

“This is something that we only normally experience in history books,” Stoker said. “ But it really wasn’t that long ago. Now we have a chance to interact with a part of American history.”

Trickey was ultimately expelled from Little Rock Central. A teacher witnessed Trickey calling a girl who had tormented her “white trash.”

“I guess you could say I was retaliating,” Trickey said. “But, to me, that implies that we had the same power as the students who terrorized us, and that wasn’t the case.”

Throughout the Civil Rights Movement, Trickey’s influence stretched far beyond Little Rock. She participated in sit-ins, helped with voter registration and worked to dismantle Jim Crow laws.

“They call it the Civil Rights movement, but it’s really human rights. It involves us all,” she said.

Harewood said that some of the same problems Trickey faced creep into classrooms and society at large still today.

“Fifty years later and some of the problems and attitudes haven’t changed at all,” Harewood said. “That’s why this is an important event for students.”

Trickey agreed.

“I’ve been back to Central High School, and it’s better than when I was there, but it’s still a divided school. White students with white students. Black students with black students. But that’s how it is for much of the country as well.”

Trickey hopes that students will take away an important message from her lecture on campus.

“Social change takes all of us,” Trickey said. “That’s something we all need to remember.”