Arlington Black History Museum, @DSTInc1913 Honor Joan Mulholland #Virginia

On Saturday, April 29 at the Arlington Black History Museum, located at 3045b Columbia Pike in Arlington, honored Joan Trumpauer Mulholland. Mulholland was a civil rights activist and freedom rider in the 1960s. She knew Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, John Lewis and other civil rights legends. Mulholland is a resident of Arlington.

“I saw something was wrong and decided to do something about it,” Mulholland has said about her civil rights activity.

A line formed in front of the 81-year old civil rights hero and Mulholland quickly ran out of books and postcards to sign as the Arlington Black History Museum filled up less than twenty minutes after the event began

Dr. Scott Taylor, who runs the Museum, greeted guests and acted as MC, along with Mulholland’s son Loki. In attendance were a large group of Delta Sigma Theta sorority members, Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, the Commonwealth's Attorney for Arlington, members of the historic Syphax family of Arlington, and various members of the Arlington community. Mulholland is believed to be the first white member of Delta Sigma Theta.

The Arlington Black History Museum is currently on Columbia Pike but has no permanent home and is currently searching for one. As a result of her civil rights activism, Mulholland is in several historic photographs from the civil rights era. This includes a photo from a Mississippi sit-in in 1961

A her civil rights involvement, she was in some of the most famous photographs in civil rights history along with activists Anne Moody and John Salter. The image features the three being harassed by a group of racists for eating-while-racially-integrated at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Jackson, Mississippi on May 28, 1963. The 60th anniversary of the famous lunch counters sit-in photo is May 28.

May 28, 1963: The image from a Jackson, Mississippi Woolworth’s, left, is one of the most famous images from the civil rights movement. At right is Mulholland at another lunch counter protest in Arlington, Va.

“That photo from Jackson is the most widely used sit-in photo — by a second string photographer for the local paper Fred Blackwell, he still lives outside Jackson,” Mulholland told the crowd at The Arlington Black History Museum on April 29.

“That is the most widely used sit-in photo of any of them. It went worldwide. Back in the days before color photography it was colorized and in the front page above the centerfold of Paris Match — the most widely read newspaper in Europe — and The New York Times. But not only was it so widespread, it was the most integrated picture. John Salter, our professor who looks white in the photograph, he a Native American tribal member. I'm white and Moody's black. We didn't have any Asian American students at that time in the school, but we had it pretty well covered and I'd say this is the most integrated sit-in that took place,” Mullholland explained.

Below are videos and photos from the April 29th event.

April 29, 2023: Members of Delta Theta Sigma gather around their historic fellow sorority, Joan Mulholland.

Right: The 1961 mugshot of freedom riders arrested and processed at Parchman Prison in Jackson, Miss.

Joan Mulholland, right, is believed to be the first white member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Joan Mulholland speaks with an attendee at the Arlington Black History Museaum on April 29, 2023.

Mulholland’s son Loki, who is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, takes a photo with one of the many members of Delta Sigma Theta in attendance at The Arlington Black History Museum.

The Arlington Black History Museum on April 29, 2023.

Long-time Arlington resident, Dr. Scott Taylor, who runs the Arlington Black History Museum, is seen at right.

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