The San Mateo County Community College District is pleased to announce that Minnijean Brown-Trickey, one of the “Little Rock Nine” and a trail blazer of the civil rights movement, will teach “Landmarks of Civil Rights: The U.S. Civil Rights Movement” in Spring 2012. The course provides an in-depth retrospective of U.S. civil rights from an instructor who is one of the best primary resources available today.

The semester-length course will be offered at all three of the district’s colleges: Cañada College, College of San Mateo (CSM) and Skyline College. Classes begin January 17 (CSM), January 19 (Cañada), January 23 (Skyline College) and conclude the week of May 21; all classes meet from 6:30-9:30 pm.

On September 26, 1957, in the presence of 1,200 armed soldiers and a worldwide audience, Brown-Trickey and eight other African American teenagers faced down an angry mob and helped to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. This seminal event in American history, which eventually laid the groundwork for the desegregation of public schools, was the beginning of Brown-Trickey’s life-long career as a crusader for civil rights.

Brown-Trickey’s involvement in the desegregation of schools influenced her lifetime involvement in peacemaking, environmental issues, development of youth leadership, diversity education and training, cross-cultural communication, and gender and social justice advocacy. She served as deputy assistant secretary for workforce diversity at the Department of the Interior under the Clinton Administration. For her commitment and work in civil rights, she received a U.S. Congressional Medal in addition to many other awards and citations.

Brown-Trickey will teach the course with Jeff Steinberg, the former Bay Area history teacher, who founded Sojourn to the Past in 1999 and currently serves as its executive director.  This course is offered in cooperation with Sojourn to the Past, the nationally-acclaimed civil rights education program.

Enrollment is open to the general public, including high school students. The enrollment fee for the three-unit class is $108. For more information about the class, students should contact the college where they intend to enroll:

Cañada College
(650) 306-3226, huynhv@smccd.edu
To enroll:  canadacollege.edu/admissions/howto.html

College of San Mateo
(650) 574-6494, hensonk@smccd.edu
To enroll:  collegeofsanmateo.edu/enroll

Skyline College
(650) 738-4100; Bestock@smccd.edu
To enroll:  skylinecollege.edu/general/admissions/apply.html