The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau
A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers,
writers, and doers for speaking engagements.
A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers,
writers, and doers for speaking engagements.
When we challenge what we know to be morally wrong, we grow as a society.
In 1957, Minnijean Brown-Trickey changed history by striding through the front doors of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. As a member of the Little Rock Nine, she helped desegregate public schools—a milestone in civil rights history—and alter the course of education in America. Her talks are a sweeping exploration of social change and a reminder that the fight is far from over.
In the autumn of 1957, Minnijean Brown-Trickey took her rightful place in what had previously been a whites-only school. In front of a worldwide television audience, she walked past armed guards and an angry mob to help set America on the path toward desegregation in public schools. Incredibly, this was just the beginning of her fiery career as a social activist. For her work, she has received the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, the Spingarn Medal, the Wolf Award, and a medal from the W.E.B. DuBois Institute, among other citations. Under the Clinton administration, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of the Interior, for diversity. She has also appeared in two acclaimed documentaries: Journey to Little Rock: The Untold Story of Minnijean Brown Trickey and HBO’s Little Rock: 50 Years Later.
In her adult life, Brown-Trickey continues to be an activist for minority rights. She lived in Canada for a number of years in the 1980s and 1990s, getting involved in First Nations activism and studying social work at Laurentian University.
Soon into her hour-long talk, it became clear Trickey is still the person she was back then, the passionate and outspoken and society-challenging social activist.
Saginaw Valley State University ConferencePulitzer Prize-winning author of On Juneteenth Harvard professor MacArthur Genius
Cognitive Scientist Expert in the Fields of Language and Cognition
Social justice comedian Director of The Muslims Are Coming! Author of How to Make White People Laugh
Award-Winning Black Transgender Activist Author of The Risk It Takes to Bloom Co-Founder of the Transgender Week of Visibility and Action
Author of Living in Data Former Library of Congress Innovator in Residence Former NYT Data Artist-in-Residence
CEO of Phylagen, Inc. TED Senior Fellow
Award-Winning Black Transgender Activist Author of The Risk It Takes to Bloom Co-Founder of the Transgender Week of Visibility and Action
County Public Health Director Author of Healing Politics and Medicare for All Host of America Dissected
Author of instant New York Times bestseller Secret City Tablet Magazine columnist Award-winning journalist
Grit, more than talent, IQ, looks, or wealth, is a powerful indicator of success.
There isn’t a beat you can cover in America—education, housing—where race is not a factor.
Great brands don’t simply reach customers: they create real emotional bonds with them.
Racism has a cost for everyone—but there are ways we can prosper together.
Stories of queer identity and Black joy have the power to educate us on diversity, inspire social justice activism, and build community.
As a living witness to history―and as an active participant who has helped shape it―Minnijean Brown-Trickey delivers a fascinating exploration of social change, diversity, and the battle against racism throughout the decades, from the beginnings of her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement to the present day. Unerringly hopeful but realistic, she is a stately speaker who helps today’s students understand both how far we have come and how far we still have to go in the battle for freedom and equality.