Joan Trumpauer Mulholland (born September 14, 1941) is an American civil rights activist who was active in the 1960s.

Mulholland and her childhood friend Mary dared each other to walk into "nigger" town, which was located on the other side of the train tracks.

Mulholland stated the experience opened her eyes: "No one said anything to me, but the way they shrunk back and became invisible, showed me that they believed that they weren't as good as me.

[4] Mulholland attended Duke University for a year before she decided to drop out, in search for a greater meaning in her life.

Out of fear of shakedowns, Mulholland wore a skirt with a deep, ruffled hem where she would hide paper that she had crumpled until it was soft and then folded neatly.

[8] In the summer of 1961, the historic Freedom Riders, a group of black and white activists, challenged the legally segregated buses and bus stations of the south by refusing to travel separately.

Churchgoers and their children were reportedly watching as the riders attempted to escape the flames of the bus, only to be beaten by the townspeople until the police stopped the chaos.

[4] Mulholland, along with Stokely Carmichael (the activist and later SNCC chairman, who would later be known as Kwame Turre), Hank Thomas, and many others, took a different freedom ride.

The group took a plane to New Orleans, then rode on the Illinois Central train to Jackson, Mississippi, with members of the Congress of Racial Equality.

[4] After the new group of Freedom Riders were arrested for refusing to leave a bus waiting area in Jackson, Mulholland and others were put inside a paddy wagon and taken to Parchman Penitentiary in Mississippi, a jail in the Delta, not far from where Emmett Till had been murdered in 1955.

In retrospect, Mulholland later recounted, the driver had probably needed a pit stop and only wanted to frighten the riders.

The matron cleansed her gloved hand, prior to each exam, in a bucket of liquid that Mulholland said smelled like Lysol.

[5][10][11] Many of the freedom riders remained behind bars for about a month, but Mulholland had no plans and no place to go until school opened in the fall.

[11] Soon after Mulholland's release, Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Hamilton E. Holmes became the first African-American students to enroll at the University of Georgia.

One night an angry mob gathered outside Hunter's dormitory, causing significant property damage and gaining media attention for the university and the state.

[12][contradictory] When Dr. King came to Tougaloo College to give a speech, it was Mulholland who escorted him to the science building where he was to speak.

There were various attempts to shut down Tougaloo but the school remained open because its charter predated the Jim Crow laws.

[4] Mulholland participated in the May 28, 1963 sit-in to protest racial segregation at the lunch counter of the Woolworth’s store in downtown Jackson.

[5][12][13] Around the time Mulholland arrived at Woolworth's, Tougaloo student Memphis Norman had been dragged to the floor by former police officer Benny Oliver, who wore tennis shoes, and was being kicked repeatedly.

Salter received a cigarette burn on the back of his neck, he was hit in the jaw with brass knuckles, and a pepper–water mix was thrown into his eyes.

Moody and Mulholland returned to the now awake Kings, told them the story, and were quickly rushed from the park.

[12] A few days after the March on Washington, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) set off a bomb at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, just before Sunday morning service.

[15] Mulholland took a piece of glass from the explosion, glued it to black ebony wood, and fashioned a necklace out of it.

[4] Mulholland gave Michael and Rita Schwerner an "orientation" on what you need to know about being a white activist in the state of Mississippi.