King celebration features member of the Little Rock Nine

Minnijean Brown Trickey — an activist who helped bring an end to legal segregation in American schools in 1957 — will visit Grand Valley State University as part of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration on January 21.

Trickey was one of a group of African-American teenagers known as the “Little Rock Nine.” In 1957, under the gaze of 1,200 armed soldiers and a worldwide audience, she and her eight classmates faced down an angry mob and helped to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. Trickey and the other students were honored by the federal government last year during the 50th anniversary of the event. A commemorative coin will be issued by the U.S. Mint to honor the Little Rock Nine, and The Little Rock Central National Historic Site Visitor Center, which will provide space for educational programming, will open.

Trickey has spent her life fighting for the rights of minority groups and the dispossessed. Under the Clinton administration, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of Interior, responsible for diversity. She has received the U.S. Congressional Medal, the Wolf Award, the Springam Medal, and many other citations and awards. She lives in Arkansas, and is continuing her work for civil rights and social equality. She is also working on her autobiography, tentatively titled, Mixed Blessing: Living Black in North America.

Grand Valley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration is January 21. It begins with a silent march at 1:45 p.m., assembling at the Zumberge Library main entrance. The march will process through campus and end at the Fieldhouse Arena. The program there runs from 2:15-3 p.m. and features a speech by Trickey and a performance by the Voices of GVSU.

For more information, contact the Office of Multicultural Affairs at (616) 331-2177.