Minnijean Brown-Trickey

Minnijean Brown-Trickey is one of the nine African American students who collectively resisted the opposition to the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957—an act of great historical importance that has been featured in numerous documentaries, magazines, television specials and other media.

Since this courageous stance for social justice as a young woman, Brown-Trickey has maintained a lifelong commitment to peacemaking, developing youth leadership, diversity education and training, cross-cultural communication, gender and social justice advocacy.

She holds a Bachelor of Social Work in Native Human Services from Laurentian University and a Master of Social Work from Carleton University. Brown-Trickey served in the Clinton Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Workforce Diversity and continues to be active as a teacher, writer, and motivational speaker.

Brown-Trickey is the recipient of numerous awards for her community work for social justice, including Lifetime Achievement Tribute by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and the International Wolf Award for contributions to racial harmony. With the Little Rock Nine, she received the NAACP Spingarn Medal and the Congressional Gold Medal. Brown-Trickey is the mother of three sons and three daughters.