Brenda Travis--An Unknown Civil Rights Hero

We were contacted by a filmmaker out of Canada named Myra Ottewell a few weeks ago. She wanted us to take some pictures for a film she is making for PBS. It's a great story, and it was a great opportunity. Here is what she wrote:

"I did a story for my documentary Mississippi ReMixed about an Apple Valley resident. She was a young woman in McComb, Mississippi who challenged the segregation laws of the day (Oct. 1961) and was arrested as a 16 year-old and sentenced to 30 days in jail, and later for a year in reform school.

"She was the keynote speaker at the honorary graduation of the class of 1962 in McComb in 2007. At the end of the ceremony we interviewed anyone who wanted to speak at the back of the gym, and after everyone had finished, I saw her holding a white man's hand, walking up to the camera. I couldn't imagine. The guy was 12 years old when she defied the segregated "whites only" Greyhound bus waiting room, but unlike most Mississippians, his family knew about it, because his father worked for the newspaper (they didn't print the story) and his uncle was a policeman, who would have know about the arrest. That little boy was so inspired, the she became a hero to him.

"When he heard about the ceremony, he drove all the way from Texas (where is is the vice-chancellor of Baylor University) to give her the Bronze Star he earned in Viet Nam.He said he had to leave his country to fight for his country, but that she had to fight for her country within her own country, and no one should have to do that. He said some of his friends say, “Why don’t you just tell Brenda Travis how much you appreciated her courage and give that Bronze Star to your children. He writes: I thought about saving my medals for my children – maybe giving my bronze star to my son so my children would have something to remember me by. Then I thought, No, this is how I want to be remembered: Brenda Travis gave her youth for civil rights for all Americans; daddy gave his Bronze Star to Brenda Travis."

The woman making the film asked us to photograph Brenda and her Bronze Star for the film. Wow. So last week we got to meet Brenda and hear the story from her. She was essentially banished from her home for two years for simply showing up and protesting. Hard to believe things like this happened in this country not even 50 years ago.
Brenda is a wonderful person, with a wonderful laugh and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting this Unknown Hero. There is a website for the film, which is not done yet, but you can see a little about it here: Mississippi Remixed