'The right thing to do': Civil Rights leader shares story at Utah conference


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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Teachers from across the state gathered at Butler Middle School Saturday to attend the Utah Council for the Social Studies Conference.

Some sat paying close attention; others glanced up and down from the stage to their notebooks as keynote speaker Joan Trumpauer Mulholland shared the story of her fight for equal rights.

"You teachers are my heroes," she told the crowd.

It was a room full of teachers, learning about the Civil Rights movement from someone who was actually there.

"My mama didn't want me to go to this little church school in Ohio because you know, there might be colored classmates," Joan Mulholland told the crowd.

"She says I basically ruined her perfectly good retirement," her son, Loki Mulholland. said. "I said, 'Well, that's what you get for being good.'"

In the 1960s, Joan Mulholland was a civil rights leader — a white woman, standing up for rights in the deep South. Some believed she was mentally ill for taking part in protests.

"She did it because it's the right thing to do," Loki Mulholland said. "She did it because she was taught that all men are created equal."

Joan Mulholland joined a group called the Freedom Riders, fighting segregation on buses and at bus stations. She was arrested, and she was even placed on death row. While she wasn't sentenced to death, her son believes it was done to prove a point.

"To intimidate her; to intimidate the Freedom Riders," he said. "The state of Mississippi was sending a message to the world that 'we're not going to change,' (that) the Freedom Riders had committed a capital crime. This was treason."

Loki Mulholland has dedicated himself to helping his mom pass on her story. He's worked on multiple books and a documentary on her life called "An Ordinary Hero." He also works with Utah-based Studies Weekly to get his mom's story in classrooms.

For Joan Mulholland, the civil rights years were filled with conflict. She was disowned by her family and hunted by the Ku Klux Klan.

Still, she's proud of her life. She is remembered for those years and for helping organize the historic March on Washington.

Jamison Thatch visits with her hero, Civil Rights leader Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, who was the keynote speaker at the Utah Council for the Social Studies Conference in Cottonwood Heights Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016. (Photo: KSL TV)
Jamison Thatch visits with her hero, Civil Rights leader Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, who was the keynote speaker at the Utah Council for the Social Studies Conference in Cottonwood Heights Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016. (Photo: KSL TV)

Now she travels the country sharing her story, as she did Saturday with a room full of teachers and one sixth-grade girl named Jamison Thatch.

"I came to see my hero," Jamison said. "I actually saw her in a magazine, and so I kind of read about it and I looked her up on the Internet."

Jamison was taken with Joan Mulholland's story and sent an email to Loki Mulholland.

"'Hey, I want to be able to come and meet your mother,'" he said, thinking back on that message. "I didn't know if she realized where we were actually going to be."

"I'm from Lander, Wyoming," Jamison said, which is about a four-hour drive from Salt Lake City. "So I'm here and I'm really excited."

In addition to listening to the speech, Loki Mulholland arranged for Jamison to have a sit-down interview with his mother. The girl brought along a folder full of photos and questions.

It was a chance for Jamison to meet a living piece of history in a room all to themselves.

"To me, it's incredible," said Loki Mulholland. "It's exactly why we did this."

Email: rboone@ksl.com

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