The Asheville Branch NAACP and the Empowerment Resource Center of Asheville/Buncombe County will hold the annual Freedom Fund and Awards Banquet October 31 beginning at 7 p.m. The event, which takes place at the DoubleTree Biltmore, 115 Hendersonville Road in Asheville, honors leaders and celebrates efforts in achieving equality for all people. Tickets are $35 each, and funds raised through this event support the work of the Asheville Branch NAACP.

The keynote speaker is Minnijean Brown Trickey, one of the nine African American students whose courage and determination, coupled with protection from United States National Guard troops, carried them through angry crowds to end segregation at Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

Asheville resident Minnie Jones will receive the Sophie Dixon & Grace Dorn Leadership Award, given to women who exemplify the qualities of leadership, action, and influence in our community exhibited by Sophie Dixon and the late Grace Dorn. The President’s Award, presented annually to an agency or business dedicated to the community’s economic development, will be presented to OnTrack Financial Education and Counseling.

Tickets may be ordered by mailing checks to PO Box 2881 Asheville, NC 28802 or by calling (828) 281-3066. Attendees are encouraged to order tickets early.

Minnijean Brown Trickey, one of the “Little Rock Nine” stands in front of Central High, Little Rock, Arkansas.  Photograph courtesy of Shaun Heasley Photography - Special to the Urban News - No Duplications or reproductions of any kind permitted. For information pertaining to this photo, contact: Shaun Heasley at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Minnijean Brown Trickey

Staff reports

Minnijean Brown Trickey is one of the nine African American students who collectively resisted opposition to the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Although all nine experienced verbal and physical harassment during their year at Central, Brown was suspended and then expelled for retaliating against the daily torment.

She moved to New York and lived with Drs. Kenneth B. and Mamie Clark, African American psychologists who used their social science findings for the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case, and was graduated from the New Lincoln School in 1959. After graduation, she attended Southern Illinois University, received a bachelor’s degree in social work from Laurentian University, and earned her master’s in social work at Carleton University, in Ontario.

Ms Brown Trickey has worked in various settings committed to peacemaking, environmental issues, developing youth leadership, diversity education and training, cross-cultural communication, and gender and social-justice advocacy. She served in the Clinton administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Workforce Diversity at the Department of the Interior. Her teaching experience in social work includes Carleton University and community colleges in Canada. While teaching, writing, and appearing as a motivational speaker, she is also the Shipley Visiting Writer for Heritage Studies at Arkansas State University.

Brown Trickey has received numerous awards for her work for social justice, including a 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.