Salynn McCollum facts for kids

Mary Salynn (Selyn) McCollum was a brave civil rights activist. She was the only white woman who joined the Freedom Riders on their journey from Nashville, Tennessee to Birmingham, Alabama on May 17, 1961. The Freedom Riders were people who rode buses into the Southern United States to challenge unfair segregation laws.

Early Life and Education

Salynn McCollum was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on April 6, 1940. Her parents were Hilda and Walter McCollum. Her family moved several times when she was young. She spent her junior high and high school years in Amherst, New York. Salynn had one sister named Rhonda.

After high school, Salynn was accepted into Syracuse University. However, her parents wanted her to return to the South. Both of her parents had grown up in Tennessee.

College Years

In 1958, Salynn began studying at George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, Tennessee. She focused on teaching students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Even as an undergraduate, she took some advanced classes.

In one of these classes, she met Professor Lester Carr from Fisk University. He shared her interest in helping children with special needs. Professor Carr invited Salynn to visit Fisk University. There, she saw a classroom for children with autism. He also invited her to hear Kelly Miller Smith speak at a local church.

Joining the Civil Rights Movement

Salynn McCollum started attending training sessions led by Reverend James Lawson. These sessions taught people how to protest peacefully without using violence. She also went to nightly meetings about ending segregation in downtown Nashville. Segregation was a system that kept Black and white people separate.

The workshops helped students learn how to handle people who were against their demonstrations. After the meetings, the college students would often eat dinner together. In February 1961, Salynn attended a Nashville Student Movement meeting. She was a guest of Professor Carr, who was a leader in the group.

Continuing Her Activism

Because of her involvement in the Freedom Rides, Salynn faced some difficulties at her college. Her professor, Leonard J. Lucito, helped her transfer to Southern Illinois University. There, she was able to finish her studies.

While at SIU, Salynn continued to fight for civil rights. She helped organize protests at lunch counters with other students. She even led a non-violent workshop, using what she had learned in Nashville. During one protest, she was injured and needed medical care. This event received a lot of attention in newspapers. Soon after, John Lewis, another important civil rights leader, joined her in Cairo, Illinois.

After finishing her classes, Salynn returned to Nashville. She used scholarship money from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to keep working for the Movement. At the same time, she was student teaching kindergarten at Peabody's campus.

Working with SNCC

Salynn McCollum visited the Highlander Folk School, a place known for training civil rights activists. In early 1962, Salynn began working full-time for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Atlanta. SNCC was a group led by students that played a big role in the Civil Rights Movement.

Her job included helping people register to vote in Georgia. She also helped raise money and gave speeches at churches across the South. Salynn did not attend the famous March on Washington. She had learned that she did not like being in very large, unorganized crowds, especially after her experiences in Cairo, Illinois.

The Freedom Rides

The group of Freedom Riders Salynn joined had ten people. There were two white riders, Jim Zwerg and Salynn McCollum. There were also eight African American riders: John Lewis, William Barbee, Paul Brooks, Charles Butler, Allen Carson, Bill Harbour, Catherine Burks, and Lucretia Collins.

Salynn was sent as an observer. Her job was to report back to Diane Nash, another key leader. She was told not to get arrested with the other Riders. Leo Lillard drove her to Pulaski, Tennessee, where she met the other Freedom Riders. Some people say Salynn missed the Nashville bus. However, she remembered it as a choice to board elsewhere. This was to keep herself separate and try to offer some protection to the group.

Arrest in Birmingham

The Freedom Riders did not talk much during their bus rides. This was to try and stay unnoticed. But it was clear they had been discovered by the time they reached the Alabama state line. Armed people were waiting along the highway to Birmingham.

When they arrived at the Birmingham bus station, Salynn tried to get off the bus. She wanted to tell Diane Nash what was happening. But she was stopped from leaving. All the passengers were held for a while. Then, the regular passengers were allowed to leave, but not the Freedom Riders.

When the Freedom Riders were finally allowed off the bus, Salynn joined Catherine Burks and Lucretia Collins. By doing this, she showed that she was a Freedom Rider too. She had already called Diane Nash to tell her about the situation in Birmingham. Eventually, all ten Freedom Riders were arrested and taken to jail.

In Jail

In jail, Salynn was separated from the other female Freedom Riders because she was white. She was held with other white women prisoners. When these prisoners found out Salynn was a Freedom Rider, they treated her badly.

Salynn stayed in jail for about three or four days. She was eventually released into her father's care. Her parents were very upset and did not approve of her involvement in the Movement. A police officer and Birmingham Chief of Police Bull Conner drove her to Memphis in a police car. From Memphis, Salynn and her father flew back to Nashville.

Life After the Freedom Rides

After her time with SNCC, Salynn McCollum worked as a Day Care Center Director in Harlem, New York. She did this for about twenty years. Later, she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. There, she trained dogs, rode horses, and traveled.

In 2000, Salynn moved back to Tennessee. She lived with her sister, Rhonda McCollum, and her family in Nunnelly, Tennessee. Salynn McCollum passed away on May 1, 2014.

Resources The papers of Salynn McCollum are kept at the Special Collections Library at Vanderbilt University.