Minnijean Brown-Trickey

Minnijean Brown was born to Willie and Imogene Brown in Little Rock, Arkansas. Willie worked as an independent mason and a landscaping contractor while Imogene was a homemaker and a nurses aide. Minnijean was the eldest of four siblings. == Little Rock Nine ==

In September 1957, with the help of Daisy Bates, a prominent civil rights activist in Central Arkansas, Minnijean Brown set out to integrate Little Rock Central High School alongside eight other African American students. The students originally attempted to enter the school on September 4, 1957, but were stopped by the Arkansas National Guard called in by Governor Orval Faubus. In response, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent 1,200 U.S. paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division to assist the Little Rock Nine in entering the school. She was suspended from school for six days. Later, in February, a group of girls threw a purse filled with combination locks at Minnijean. She responded by calling the girls "white trash" and was immediately expelled. After her expulsion, students at Central passed a note around which stated, "One down, eight to go." Following the incident, Brown moved to New York and lived with Drs. Kenneth B. and Mamie Clark. The Clarks were African American psychologists who helped with the argument presented by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the Brown v. Board of Education case. Brown attended the New Lincoln School in Manhattan for 11th and 12th grade. == Later life ==

Brown attended Southern Illinois University where she majored in journalism. She became a public speaker, and has spoken in 49 states as well as several countries including Canada, England, and South Africa. The speaking event that Brown-Trickey values the most was speaking at an award ceremony for Malala Yousafzai.. Brown-Trickey has been the recipient of many awards including a Lifetime Achievement Tribute by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, the International Wolf Award, the Spingarn Medal, and an award from the W.E.B. DuBois Institute. Under the Clinton administration, Brown-Trickey received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999 alongside the other members of the Little Rock Nine. ==Media portrayals==

Brown-Trickey has been depicted in two made-for-television movies about the Little Rock Nine. She was portrayed by Regina Taylor in the 1981 CBS movie Crisis at Central High, and by Monica Calhoun in the 1993 Disney Channel movie The Ernest Green Story. A documentary film about Brown-Trickey entitled Journey to Little Rock: The Untold Story of Minnijean Brown Trickey (2002) was produced by North-East Pictures in Ottawa, where Brown-Trickey lived during the 1990s. ==References==