Civil rights leader awarded Simeon Booker Award for Courage

YOUNGSTOWN — Joan Trumpauer Mulholland was awarded the fifth annual Simeon Booker Award for Courage during a virtual ceremony Tuesday.

The ceremony is part of the events for Nonviolence Week from Sunday to Saturday, which is hosted by Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past.

The award was presented by Mahoning Valley Historical Society and Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past and is given annually to someone who exhibits the courage and tenacity of Simeon Booker.

Booker grew up in Youngstown and became the first Black reporter for The Washington Post before becoming a reporter for Jet magazine. As a civil rights reporter, Booker's coverage of the murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black youth who was murdered by lynching in 1955, is considered a journalistic milestone.

Mulholland, 79, was awarded for her courage and efforts during the civil rights movement. She said Booker's work covering the Freedom Rides made him as much of a hero for writing about them as those who participated in them.

"I'm particularly happy to get an award with Simeon Booker's name on it," Mulholland said. "He is a hero to me."

At the virtual ceremony, part of the documentary created by her son, Loki Mulholland, titled "An Ordinary Hero: The True Story of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland," was screened.

Mulholland was born in North Carolina, attended Duke University for one year and transferred to Tougaloo College in Mississippi in 1961. She was the first white person to attend Tougaloo College, and the first white person to join Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

She participated in Freedom Rides for which she was arrested and housed for weeks on death row in Parchman Penitentiary. She also participated in the Jackson Woolworth Sit-in, the March on Washington and the Selma to Montgomery March. Mulholland has received numerous awards for her work during the civil rights movement.

"This is an award for courage, but I don't have a lot of courage," Mulholland said. "It's just that I don't do fear."

Now, Mulholland is retired and spends her time traveling the country — or participating in video calls in this era — to talk to people about her experiences and how anyone can make a difference.

She tells students that her generation took care of legal segregation in the law, but there are still many forms of discrimination that need to be defeated. It's up to this generation to work together to create change, Mulholland said.

With the protests happening today, Mulholland said people should fight back nonviolently and work together to create goals in the fight to make a difference.

"Identify your goal, decide what you might do and get out there and do it," Mulholland said. "Once you start going, you don't know where it's going to lead to or how it will evolve."

This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 4:15 AM with the headline "Civil rights leader awarded Simeon Booker Award for Courage."