Ms. Brenda Travis
Date: May 6 and 7, 2010
Interviewers: McComb High School students, Alex F, Latoya S, Lyderious I, Andrew L, Lisa M; Urban School students, Carla T, Dana L, Emma S, Kathryn K, Leo S, Matthew G, Mei Li I, Patrick S, Robyn M, Talia C; with Deborah Dent-Samake, Vickie Malone and Howard Levin
Location: The Urban School of San Francisco
Ms. Brenda Travis was born in 1945 in McComb, Mississippi. Her actions in 1961 attempting to purchase a ticket at the "whites only" ticket counter in the Greyhound bus station led to her arrest and imprisonment for 30 days. After her release she was denied re-entry into high school and this event led to a mass protest along with over 100 other students from Burgland High School.
This interview represents a historic collaboration between Urban School and McComb High School. Supported by a grant from the Kellogg Foundation, four McComb students and their teacher traveled to San Francisco to interview Ms. Travis alongside Urban School students.
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McComb, Mississippi
Brenda Travis' new memoir!
Mississippi's Exiled Daughter: How My Civil Rights Baptism Under Fire Shaped My Life, with forward by Bob Moses (interviewed by students in 2011). Brenda used our 2010 interview to help jump-start her book.
Selected links about Brenda Travis:
- The Brenda Travis Historical Education Foundation - her personal passion: Bridging the educational gap between Pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement and their achievements with the youth of today.
- Remembering Brenda, Huffiington Post blog, by By J. Randall O’Brien - O'Brien recounts the moving story of gifting his Bronze Start to Brenda, inspired by Travis's actions in the early 60's.
- Brenda Travis, SNCC Digital Gateway - Brenda is one of the highlights personalities on their Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee website.
- Brenda Travis Oral History Interview, Civil Rights Movement Veterans (CRMVET) - February, 2010