Minnijean Brown Trickey shares her role in U.S. history
Messiah College invited Minnijean Brown Trickey, one of the Little Rock Nine, to campus Jan. 21. During her visit, she served as chapel speaker, where she encouraged students and faculty to pursue Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy of nonviolence and beloved community.
After the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, ruling calling for the desegregation of schools, the Little Rock Nine—a group of nine African American students—enrolled in the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. It is considered one of the most important events in the civil rights movement.
“I grew up learning about these people in school, and never could I have imagined I’d have the opportunity to meet them,” said Todd Allen, professor of communication and special assistant to the president and provost for diversity affairs. “She was everything you’d hope one of these figures would be—real, authentic and humble.”
Trickey, a lifelong activist, has received numerous awards including the NAACP Spingarn Medal and the Congressional Gold Medal—the nation’s highest civilian award. She also joined Messiah faculty and students on the Civil Rights Bus Tour this past year, a weeklong educational journey where participants tour historic sites.
Cherisse Daniels, director of multicultural student programs, met Trickey on the bus tour.
“As I spent nine days with her, a civil rights pioneer,” said Daniels, “I reflected on my own experience as a black woman during my time in college and higher education. I felt privileged to attend school and now work at an institution, but I also reflected on how women of color still face inequality in higher education today.”
While in chapel, Trickey paid homage to King, a close friend before and during the movement. She reminded listeners that activism and social responsibility are a life sentence. “I don’t get to rest,” she told students and faculty. “This keeps my blood pumping.”
Trickey’s daughter, Spirit Tawfiq, joined her mother at the evening chapel, where students and faculty engaged in a Q&A session.
Trickey and Tawfiq reminded students about the importance and power of their education.
Trickey left Messiah with a challenge to the community: “There’s always something to read, always something to learn. Don’t just ‘get your education.’ Take it and use it.”
A little girl who just wanted to go to school is now empowering others to enter a lifelong journey of learning.
— Jake Miaczynski ’20