[5] Although Mallory grew up amidst cruel racist intolerance, she accredits her female family members with teaching her that she is just as important as her white peers and how to stand up for herself.
[5] Mallory threw the cheese on the ground by flipping the tray, inciting the store owner to slap her across the face.
Similarly, Mallory's Black female elementary school principal in Macon instilled her with pride and self-respect.
[6] The city's zoning policies created a system where schools were racially segregated by mirroring the neighborhoods' lack of diversity.
[6] In 1956, Mallory became founder and spokesperson of the "Harlem 9", a group of African-American mothers who protested the inferior and inadequate conditions in segregated New York City schools.
"[6] Inspired by a report by Kenneth and Mamie Clark on inexperienced teachers, overcrowded classrooms, dilapidated conditions, and gerrymandering to promote segregation in New York, the group sought to transfer their children to integrated schools that offered higher quality resources.
[3] "Harlem 9" activism included lawsuits against the city and state, filed with the help of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The boycott campaign did not win formal support from the NAACP, but was assisted by leaders such as Ella Baker and Adam Clayton Powell, and endorsed by African-American newspapers such as the Amsterdam News.
[7] While the children were engaged in another boycott in 1960, the campaign established some of the first Freedom Schools of the civil rights movement to educate them.
In 1960, Mallory and the Harlem 9 won their lawsuit, and the Board of Education allowed them, and over a thousand other parents, to transfer their children to integrated schools.
[9] Mallory arrived in Monroe a week after the Freedom Riders had first started protesting outside of the Court House, trying to end racial segregation.
[9] At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Mallory and Mabel heard gunfire coming from the courthouse and shortly after, a messenger came to the Williams's house and informed the two women that people had opened fire on the protesters and began beating them.
[9] Mallory, not knowing about Williams's whereabouts, left NYC to lie low in Cleveland, OH after learning about her own indictment.