She Stood for Freedom: The Untold Story of a Civil Rights Hero, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland (Picture Book edition)

by Loki Mulholland, Angela Fairwell, Charlotta Janssen (Illustrator)

Overview

Joan Trumpauer Mulholland was a white teenager in the South during Segregation who put herself on the front lines of the Civil Rights struggle. This is the first biography about her experiences, published simultaneously in picture book and middle grade editions, detailing the many events she participated in. She attended demonstrations and sit-ins and was one of the Freedom Riders in 1961 who was arrested and put on death row for months at the notorious Parchman Prison. She was the first white person to join in the 1963 Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-ins in Jackson, Mississippi, and that same year participated in the March on Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King and the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965 which contributed to the passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act that year. Her willingness to stand up for justice has been an inspiration, "Anyone can make a difference. It doesn't matter how old or young you are. Find a problem, get some friends together, and go fix it. Remember, you don't have to change the world . . . just change your world."

The picture book edition of She Stood for Freedom describes in an age-appropriate way how the America of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland's youth was torn by racial injustice. Through carefully crafted storytelling and the collage artwork of Charlotta Janssen, young readers will come to understand the struggle during the tumultuous era of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement from blacks being arrested for marching to register to vote or participating in peaceful sit-ins to the daily injustices of living in segregation. The book emphasized the heroes who worked for positive change and equality under the law.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629721767
Publisher:	Shadow Mountain Publishing
Publication date:	08/02/2016
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Loki Mulholland is an award-winning filmmaker. His film, An Ordinary Hero, tells his mother's story and is featured at the National Civil Rights Museum and at www.anordinaryhero.com. He is the Executive Director of the Joan Trumpauer Mulholland Foundation.

Angela Fairwell attended South Carolina State University where she earned a degree in business management. She has been involved in a number of charitable organizations, including the Family for Literacy program, which strives to combat childhood illiteracy by donating new books to children from low-income families. 

Charlotta Janssen was born in Maine to German parents. She studied art at the University of the Arts in Berlin, Germany. Her art has been showcased in more than forty gallery exhibitions worldwide, and she has been featured in American Art Collector magazine, The New Yorker, New York Daily News, The Tennessean, Oprah.com, and HipHopWired.com.

 

Editorial Reviews

05/30/2016
A son pays tribute to his mother in this picture book biography of civil rights activist Joan Trumpauer Mulholland. The younger Mulholland, who previously produced a documentary about his mother’s activism, pairs with Fairwell to highlight key moments in Joan’s fight against racism. From an early age, Southern-born Joan, who is white, sensed the injustices African-Americans were suffering. “When Joan and Mary reached the black schoolhouse, Joan stopped and stared. It was not like the brand-new brick school for the white children.... Joan’s soul was rattled.” She participated in demonstrations and Freedom Rides, was arrested, attended an all-black college, and joined lunch-counter sit-ins. Janssen’s (The Secret of Three Butterpillars) evocative mixed-media collages tap into the turbulence of the events discussed; aqua, rust, and drab greens provide the only color, melding with photographs, drawings, maps, newspaper headlines, diary entries, and official documents. The clear, direct narrative contextualizes Joan’s actions within the larger movement while explaining words like segregation for young audiences. A brief civil rights timeline is included, and a middle grade edition of the book (with the same title) is available simultaneously. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"With the focus on Black Lives Matter comes the discussion of what it means to be a white ally. To understand what it means to be an ally, it helps to look at the roles and actions of white allies throughout history. Loki Mulholland’s biography of his mother, She Stood for Freedom contributes to that process...Loki Mulholland explores the life experiences that led to his mother’s decision to fight for racial justice even though it meant turning away from her own family and community. Joan Trumpauer was in no way a major figure or “white savior” but rather a foot soldier of the Civil Rights movement who shared the experience of facing down state terror and brutality along with her black and white peers. In this way, She Stood for Freedom is a fitting companion to other biographies and histories of ordinary young people in the movement...The short sections are arranged chronologically, and each describes a key event in Joan Trumpauer’s life or a single topic such as the dangers of demonstrations, the lifelong friendships that she made, and the lessons she passed on to her children." 

The Pirate Tree: Social Justice and Children's Literature

"Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "One day, the South will recognize its heroes. Joan Trumpauer Mulholland is one of those heroes. You cannot tell the story of America's Civil Rights Movement without talking about the sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Freedom Summer, and the Selma to Montgomery march. How amazing in this book to tell all those stories through the life of one women—Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, whose uncommon courage and unflinching perseverance continue to inspire us all."

award-winning journalist on the Civil Rights Movem Jerry Mitchell

"Unheralded heroes walk among us-and in Loki Mulholland's case, in his own family. His mother, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, was an early civil rights activist who took Christian tenets to heart as a child. She was an anomaly when she first embraced the cause: young, white, female, and Southern, a combination that incensed the Ku Klux Klan, who placed her on a hit list. In 1960, at the age of 19, Mulholland started participating in lunch counter sit-ins, and through major events of the civil rights movement, she faced death countless times. This condensation of her son's 2013 documentary, An Ordinary Hero, enhanced by Janssen's evocative illustrations alongside shocking historic documents, is co-published with an edition for younger readers, both of which highlight Mulholland's enduring message for children: 'Find a problem, get some friends together, and go fix it.'"

Booklist

She Stood for Freedom will help young people understand that “ordinary” people, like Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, were as important to the successes gained during the Civil Rights Movement, as better known players like Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Her story also illustrates that you are never too young to do the right thing.  This book will help young people better understand how they too can be heroes and “s-heroes” and stand up for justice and equality for all people."
 

Terri Lee Freeman

"A wonderfully written book about a wonderful, worthy hero. An individual who I greatly admire."
 

Hank Thomas

"Ideal for young people who are just about ready to make the transition from picturebooks to chapter books. Emotional and inspiring, highly recommended for both school and public library collections."
 

Midwest Book Review

ALA Amelia Bloomer Award nominee 2017

American Library Association

"This readable, fast-paced narrative illustrates why a young white woman would feel compelled to join the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. It was simple, actually: she was a Southerner, a Christian, an American and it was the right thing to do."

 

William Pretzer

"She Stood for Freedom tells the story of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, an ardent, devoted fighter for the cause of equal justice. The desire she had to right the wrongs of her country took her from a college campus to downtown street demonstrations and then to jail. She truly deserves the descriptor “foot soldier” having lived the life of one while standing for freedom in the only way she knew she could. The book is a testament to both Joan and the many other unknown individuals who worked so hard to accomplish so much."
 

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

"A biography that gives readers little glimpses or vignettes into what it was like to be a Freedom Rider and fighter for the Civil Rights movement...these little glimpses whet the reader's appetite to learn more about those who stood on the front lines of the fight for Civil Rights. Hopefully, this book will influence readers, young and old, to do the same.  As a very visual book, with something visual as well as written out on every page, especially noteworthy are copies of original pictures and documents found throughout the book that support or highlight the facts given on that page. Seeing pictures of Joan throughout her story made the history come to life. Would make either a great introduction to that time period or would be a great book for someone wanting to find a more personal voice for the history." [four out of five stars]

Compass Book Ratings

"It was my privilege to meet Joan Trumpauer Mulholland in 1961 when she was one of a dozen nonviolent, civil rights activists embarking on a risky, inter-racial bus ride from Washington, D.C. to the heart of the deep South. As a reporter, it was my role to follow their journey and let the world know what they encountered as they faced down a lawless system of racial injustice. Now, as then, I am humbled by their courage and the changes they brought about in our society. This well-written and beautifully illustrated book is one to be savored and shared with future generations who may need to look within themselves for similar courage."

award-winning journalist and author of Shocking th Simeon Booker

Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2017

National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children’s Book Council

Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2017

National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children’s Book Council

"A story of courage, of determination, of a desire for fairness, and of a desire for equality under the law. Perhaps the most compelling use of Joan's own words is the answer that she still gives in response to the question of "Why did you do all of that?" Her response is a poem that she wrote called "Dialogue," which includes the idea that Joan had done 'nothing but acted like an American.'...Especially powerful way for the author to drive home a bigger point by presenting information and then letting the reader make up his or her own mind as to what inferences to make."

Social Studies for Kids

"Unheralded heroes walk among us-and in Loki Mulholland's case, in his own family. His mother, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, was an early civil rights activist who took Christian tenets to heart as a child. She was an anomaly when she first embraced the cause: young, white, female, and Southern, a combination that incensed the Ku Klux Klan, who placed her on a hit list. In 1960, at the age of 19, Mulholland started participating in lunch counter sit-ins, and through major events of the civil rights movement, she faced death countless times. This condensation of her son's 2013 documentary, An Ordinary Hero, enhanced by Janssen's evocative illustrations alongside shocking historic documents, is co-published with an edition for younger readers, both of which highlight Mulholland's enduring message for children: 'Find a problem, get some friends together, and go fix it.'"

Booklist

ALA Amelia Bloomer Award nominee 2017

American Library Association

2016-05-04
A young white Southern woman becomes an active participant in the civil rights struggle.Born to staunch segregationists in Virginia, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland grew up in the 1950s, but a determination for equal rights for both white and black people led her to take part in lunch-counter demonstrations and become a Freedom Rider. Incarceration in an infamous Mississippi prison did not change her beliefs, and she joined the 1963 March on Washington. In 2013, her son, Loki Mulholland, produced a film about her life entitled An Ordinary Hero. In this book, he and Fairwell present important events in brief but dramatic vignettes. Mulholland's courage and determination are stressed and explained in terms that young readers can understand. When as a child she first sees a black schoolhouse, "Joan's soul was rattled. This was not fair." The colorful cut-paper-collage illustrations by Janssen feature photographs, photographic imagery, and scenes that should be familiar to those studying the time period. A biography for middle graders by Loki Mulholland, also called She Stood for Freedom, publishes simultaneously.Joan Trumpauer Mulholland's is not a name that is familiar in children's books; this is an excellent opportunity to correct an oversight. (timeline) (Picture book/biography. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews

"Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "One day, the South will recognize its heroes. Joan Trumpauer Mulholland is one of those heroes. You cannot tell the story of America's Civil Rights Movement without talking about the sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Freedom Summer, and the Selma to Montgomery march. How amazing in this book to tell all those stories through the life of one woman-Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, whose uncommon courage and unflinching perseverance continue to inspire us all."

winner of more than 20 national awards for his rep Jerry Mitchell

"Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "One day, the South will recognize its heroes. Joan Trumpauer Mulholland is one of those heroes. You cannot tell the story of America's Civil Rights Movement without talking about the sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Freedom Summer, and the Selma to Montgomery march. How amazing in this book to tell all those stories through the life of one woman-Joan Trumpaurer Mulholland, whose uncommon courage and unflinching perseverance continue to inspire us all."

winner of more than 20 national journalism awards Jerry Mitchell

"It was my privilege to meet Joan Trumpauer Mulholland in 1961 when she was one of a dozen nonviolent, civil rights activists embarking on a risky, inter-racial bus ride from Washington, D.C. to the heart of the deep South. As a reporter, it was my role to follow their journey and let the world know what they encountered as they faced down a lawless system of racial injustice. Now, as then, I am humbled by their courage and the changes they brought about in our society. This well-written and beautifully illustrated book is one to be savored and shared with future generations who may need to look within themselves for similar courage."

Simeon Booker

06/01/2016
Gr 3–5—Focusing on Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, a lesser-known civil rights activist, this title is a brief portrait of her life, her actions, and the civil rights movement. From the time she was a child, Mulholland, a white Southerner, came to understand the injustice of "separate but equal," motivating her to cross the Jim Crow line to stand with African Americans to demand equality. At age 19, she became involved in the Freedom Rides of 1961. She knew the risks and knew she was a marked woman for becoming a "race traitor." She was harassed, imprisoned, and attacked but still persevered in her activities. Further involvement in the civil rights movement included participating in sit-ins, the March on Washington, and the Selma to Montgomery March. Her unwavering belief in equality gave her tremendous inner strength. Quotes from Mulholland portray her as someone who never thought of herself as a hero, only someone who could make a difference. ("Anyone can make a difference. It doesn't matter how old or young you are. Find a problem, get some friends together, and fix it.") Primary source documents and photos and other culturally relevant artifacts accompany the text. Collagelike illustrations that imagine parts of her life (for instance, Mulholland as a child seeing for the first time what a schoolhouse for black children looked like—in contrast to her whites-only school) are peppered throughout, and while eye-catching and mood evoking, they are not as useful as the photographs and other documents. VERDICT Purchase to supplement civil rights and biography materials.—Lisa Crandall, formerly at the Capital Area District Library, Holt, MI

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