These days, it’s not uncommon to see a white person joining the Black-founded Greek organizations of the Divine Nine. Though, have you ever wondered who was the first to bite the bullet? Let us introduce Joan Mulholland, the first white woman to join Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and trust us, she was a force to be reckoned with (famous Deltas include singer Andra Day, Aretha Franklin, Cisley Tyson and Shirley Chisholm...just to name a few).
Mulholland’s mugshot might be found alongside the others who were arrested by the Jackson, Miss. police during the Freedom Riders movement. The Washington D.C. native was just around 20 years old. However, she didn’t just get caught up in the crowd or end up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Mulholland was about that life.
Her activism began at Duke University in 1960, where her parents encouraged her to go. She’d taken an interest in the International Club instead of the other, majority white groups on campus, per the Library of Congress. She’d taken interest in sit-ins and other demonstrations, leading to confusion from her peers because why would a white woman would fight for such a cause?
After the Dean of Women pressured her to stop her activism, Mulholland dropped out, per the Library of Congress.
By 1961, Mulholland was joining Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee chairman Stokely Carmichael to take a freedom ride from New Orleans to Jackson, Miss. However, the group was arrested and shipped off to Parchman Penitentiary where she stayed for two months after refusing to pay bail, per The Advocate.
By the time she was released, she had little options as to what she could do beyond going back to school or working. However, the riots following the desegregation of the University of Georgia encouraged her to get back in the books... but at a Black school.
“Now if whites were going to riot when Black students were going to white schools, what were they going to do if a white student went to a Black school?” she said, per the University of South Carolina.
Mulholland then enrolled in Touglaoo College. There, she had the honor of escorting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. around campus while he visited the college for a speech, per The Advocate. She considered him a “hero” of the movement. By 1963, she’d join Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. - becoming their first white member.
Following that moment she would go on to participate in the March on Washington, Selma to Montgomery March and meet other Civil Rights giants such as John Lewis and Medgar Evers. By the ripe age of 23, Mulholland participated in over 50 sit-ins and protests. Her bravery didn’t come without consequence, though.
According to the foundation created in her name, she was disowned by her family, targeted by the Ku Klux Klan and faced all the other havoc Black activists did during the time - all in the name of fighting for equality.
Now, Mulholland is a healthy 83 years old with honors such as recognition from former President Barack Obama, the Anti-Defamation League Annual Heroes Against Hate Award and the “I Am a Man” Award from the 50th Anniversary of King’s assassination.
Her son, Loki, also filmed a documentary on her life and activism, “An Ordinary Hero: the True Story of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland.”