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SALT LAKE CITY — The speeches of Doctor Martin Luther King are the stone tablets of the American Civil Rights Movement.
Friday, the highly anticipated movie “Selma," which tells the story of a violent chapter in American history, opened in theatres.
People from all walks of life participated in that movement, including one woman who visited Utah to talk to grade school and college students about her experiences.
In clothes as simple as her message, civil rights activist Joan Mulholland wears her mug shot like a badge of honor.
“I want people to see that when they come together,” she said, “they can make a difference.”
After all, it's a reminder for Mulholland that deeply treasured American values came at a heavy price. Including the thousands who risked everything to create a pivotal change in American history.
“But, who knew at the time?” Mulholland said. “We just wanted to change a situation.”
In this documentary, "An Ordinary Hero," Mulholland's son, Loki, captures her experiences riding busses through the southern United States as a Freedom Rider and marching with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to end segregation.
“Why was I a white southern female in the movement? It was the right thing to do,” she said.
As the movie "Selma" opens in theatres, Mulholland says America's struggle for social equality 50 years ago is a dramatic Hollywood lesson that applies today.
I think our society, our culture, just has an underlying predisposition to see things in racial, ethnic, religious terms rather than human terms. We need to get beyond that where we see each other as another person.
–Joan Mulholland
“Selma didn't happen in a vacuum, there had been a lot of lead up to it. We had train cars of folks going down from Washington to Montgomery for the last day of the march,” she recalls.
The day known as Bloody Sunday pit police against civilians.
“And to see Lyndon Johnson — it was electrifying on television after the beating on the bridge — lean into the camera and say we shall overcome.”
Mulholland said there's still work to be done.
“I think our society, our culture, just has an underlying predisposition to see things in racial, ethnic, religious terms rather than human terms. We need to get beyond that where we see each other as another person,” she said.
She adds that young people, as in days past, can make it happen with technology and social media as driving forces.
“You don’t know how great the ramifications can be, so get out there and act.”
Mulholland believes that if people's minds and hearts can focus on that simple notion, then her life's work can have lasting meaning.
“Now I know it was really worth it what we went through. It wasn't for naught."
To read more about Joan's role in the civil rights movement, visit her website.
