Inspirational peacemaker, Minnijean Brown Trickey was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, at the 2:00 p.m. ceremony on Tuesday, June 10, “in recognition of personal courage and a lifetime of fighting for the rights of minority groups and the dispossessed.”
Ms. Brown Trickey began her long career as a crusader for civil rights at the age of 16, when she and eight African-American friends, accompanied by the 101st Airborne soldiers, peacefully defied the governor of Arkansas, the National Guard and a violent mob on September 25, 1957, to attend the allwhite Central High School in Little Rock.
Known as The Little Rock Nine by media around the world, these young courageous pioneers desegregated the school in a defining moment in American history. Ten years later, she moved to Canada to work for peace, the environment, youth leadership, diversity education, gender and social justice and Aboriginal rights. From 1999 to 2001, she served the Clinton administration as deputy assistant secretary for workforce diversity in the Department of the Interior. She has taught social work at Carleton as well as many Canadian community colleges and earned such awards as the U.S. Congressional Medal.
Ms. Brown Trickey lives in Arkansas, where she also wrote her autobiography. An award-winning documentary film entitled Journey to Little Rock: The Untold Story of Minnijean Brown Trickey (2002) was produced by North-East Pictures in Ottawa.