The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Mid-Michigan will be celebrating the 65th anniversary of the Little Rock Nine, with members Ernest Green, Carlotta Lanier, Minnijean Brown Trickey and Mr. Terrance Roberts.

On September 4, 1957, nine black students enrolled at the formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Their enrollment in the school was made possible because of the landmark Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

Carlotta Walls was born on December 18, 1942, to Juanita Walls and the late Cartelyou Walls.  At the age 14, she was the youngest of nine courageous Black students to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957.   

Following her graduation from Central High in 1960, Walls attended Michigan State University for 2 years before moving to Denver, Colorado. She graduated from Colorado State College (now the University of Northern Colorado) and began working at the YWCA as a program administrator for teens.  In 1977, she founded LaNier and Company, a real estate brokerage company. 

Lanier and the Little Rock Nine have received numerous awards and recognitions, including the prestigious Spingarn Medal from the NAACP in 1958, and the nation’s highest civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal, which was bestowed upon them in 1999 by President Bill Clinton. She has been a member of the Urban League, NAACP, and was the first and only president of the Little Rock Nine Foundation, a scholarship organization dedicated to ensuring equal access to education. She is a past trustee at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, and the University of Northern Colorado. 

Lanier was named a “Woman of Distinction” by the Girl Scouts in 2000, and was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 2004 and the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2015.  Other awards received are the National Shining Star Award from NOBEL/Women (National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women), Pere Marquette Award, Abraham Lincoln Leadership Award, and five Honorary Doctorates.

For over 50 years, she has worked as a professional real estate broker. An author of “A Mighty Long Way,” My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High. She and her husband, Ira (Ike) LaNier have two grown children, Whitney LaNier and Brooke McClean and two grandchildren.

Ernest G. Green was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on September 22, 1941 to Lothaire S. and Ernest G. Green, Sr. His parents instilled in him confidence and self-respect that helped him to become a leader among his peers and a civil rights advocate. He was one of the first black students to integrate at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, following the Supreme Court ruling to desegregate in 1954. Green is the oldest of the "Little Rock Nine," a group of high school students who entered Central High School on the morning of September 25, 1957, with an escort of paratroopers. Governor Orval Faubus had summoned National Guardsmen to turn away the black pupils in direct defiance of the federal government, which had already approved a desegregation plan for the school. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, for the first time since Reconstruction, sent in federal troops to protect the rights of the beleaguered students, and the students ultimately prevailed. Green graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in 1962 and an M.A. in 1964.

In 1965, Green became involved in employment law with a building-trade apprenticeship for the Adolph Institute, a project to help minority women in the South find opportunities for professional careers. He then directed the A. Phillip Randolph Education Fund from 1968 to 1976. Between 1977 and 1981, he served as assistant secretary in the Labor Department under President Jimmy Carter. Since 1981, Green has worked in the private sector for consulting firms. He was a partner for Green and Herman from 1981 to 1985, owned E. Green and Associates from 1985 to 1986, and has been with Lehman Brothers since 1985.

Green has been on the boards of various organizations, such as the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, AfriCare and the African Development Foundation. He has received numerous awards and honors for his work, including the NAACP Spingarn Award, the Rockefeller Public Service Award, and honorary doctorates from Tougaloo College, Michigan State University, and Central State University.

He is married to Phyllis Green and they have three children, Adam, Jessica, and McKenzie.

Dr. Roberts is CEO of Terrence Roberts Consulting, a management consultant firm devoted to fair and equitable practices in business and industry. Started in 1975 as Terrence J. Roberts and Associates, this firm seeks to assist management personnel in the creation of workplaces conducive to employee growth and development.

 (More information available at his website: Terrenceroberts.com)

A graduate of California State University at Los Angeles (BA), and UCLA (MSW), Dr. Roberts obtained his Ph.D. in Psychology from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois.

For forty years,  (1975-2015), Dr. Roberts was a practicing clinical psychologist first in Deer park, California and later in Pasadena, California.  During this same time period he was Director of Mental Health Services at St. Helena Hospital and Health Center (1977 – 1985); Assistant Dean of Student Services at UCLA’s School of Social Welfare (1985 – 1993); and Department Chair and faculty member in psychology at Antioch University, Los Angeles (1993 – 2008).

Dr. Roberts has taught, written about and consulted with a variety of groups, institutions, businesses and professional organizations on issues related to race and racism in American society.  It is his belief that complete resolution of these issues can only happen when we, collectively, decide to rid ourselves of the pernicious ideology of racism.

As one of The Little Rock Nine, Dr. Roberts has been in demand by a number of groups who wish to learn about the impact of the chaos in Little Rock in 1957 on the social, cultural, political, and economic life of citizens in contemporary America.  This especially true at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles where Dr. Roberts is a member of the adjunct faculty.  He regularly spends time with groups of law enforcement officers including but not limited to the los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, The California highway Patrol, and the United States Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division. Our goal is to assist the officers develop more advanced understandings of the ways in which some of their attitudes about different others are established by their belief in systems founded upon mythological constructs and supported by pernicious ideologies promulgated by those who wish to preserve a static social hierarchy.

LESSONS FROM LITTLE ROCK, a memoir by Dr. Roberts was published on October 1, 2009.  In this book he describes his experience at Central High School and talks about the salient lessons to be learned from that episode.  

On February 1, 2010, his second book, SIMPLE, NOT EASY: Reflections on Community, Social Responsibility, and Tolerance was published.  The essays in this volume seek to guide the reader toward more socially responsible positions in life.

In recognition of his contributions to society, Dr. Roberts has been the recipient of:

• The Congressional Gold Medal

• The Pere Marquette Discovery Award

• The Spingarn Medal

• The Robert S. Abbott Award

Minnijean Brown Trickey. Although all of the Nine experienced verbal and physical harassment during their year at Central, Brown was first suspended, and then expelled for retaliating against the daily torment. She moved to New York and lived with Drs. Kenneth B. And Mamie Clark, the African American psychologists whose social science findings played a critical role in the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case.
After graduating from the New Lincoln School in 1959, Mrs. Brown Trickey studied journalism at Southern Illinois University. She received a Bachelor of Social Work in Native Human Services from Laurentian University and Master of Social Work at Carleton University, in Ontario Canada.

Mrs. Brown Trickey has pursued a career committed to peacemaking, environmental issues, developing youth leadership and social justice advocacy. She served in the Clinton Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Workforce Diversity at the Department of the Interior. She has taught social work at Carleton University and community colleges in Canada.

Mrs. Brown Trickey is the recipient of numerous awards for her community work for social justice, including Lifetime Achievement Tribute by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and the International Wolf Award for contributions to racial harmony. With the Little Rock Nine, she received the NAACP Spingarn Medal and the Congressional Gold Medal.
She is the subject of a documentary, Journey to Little Rock: the Untold Story of Minnijean Brown Trickey, which has received critical acclaim in international film festivals in Africa, the UK, the U.S., South America and Canada. She was featured in People Magazine, Newsweek, the Ottawa Citizen, the BBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp, Donahue, as well as on numerous other television, radio and in print media. She appeared with the Little Rock Nine on Oprah and the Today Show.
Ms. Brown Trickey currently resides in Canada, and is the Shipley Visiting Writer for Heritage Studies at Arkansas State University. She is the mother of six children, Morning Star, Isaiah, Sol, Ethan, Spirit and Leila Trickey.

“The pride and treasure of our nation is our youth.  Any nation that neglects the teaching and the upbringing of its youth is a nation on the decline”

-Bernice A. King

Dr. Bernice A. King is a global thought leader, orator, peace advocate, and Chief Executive Officer of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (The King Center), which was founded by her mother, Coretta Scott King, in 1968.  She was appointed CEO of The King Center in January 2012, by the Board of Trustees. From this position, the same one once held by her mother, this transformative leader steadfastly continues her efforts to advance her parents’ legacy of Kingian Nonviolence, which Dr. King re-branded Nonviolence365™️.

Through her work at The King Center, Dr. King educates youth and adults about the nonviolent principles modeled by her parents. In 2012, she implemented the Camp N.O.W. Leadership Academy which has engaged youth from New Mexico, South Carolina, Michigan, Alabama, and as far away as the Island of Cyprus. Because of the impact the camp, now called Camp NOW, had on their lives, youth from Cyprus returned two years in a row.

Dr. King spearheaded the ‘Let Freedom Ring and Call to Action’ event to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington and her father’s famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. This global event included then President Obama, former Presidents Clinton and Carter, and members of Congress, as well as many other international leaders, dignitaries and entertainers. 

As part of the Center’s Nonviolence365 education and training initiative, Dr. King launched Students with King, which enables students to interact with King family members, as well as those who knew and/or worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mrs. Coretta Scott King. As part of the interactive conversation, which is typically moderated by either a local radio or TV on-air personality, students are given the opportunity to learn about the more personal side of the King Family and Legacy.  Dr. King also launched a series of interactive web-talks with students throughout the country using Google Hangout as the platform. These talks enable her to use technology to converse with students while she is at The King Center and the students are in their classrooms.

After the tragic death of Michael Brown at the hands of law enforcement, Dr. King led The King Center team in engaging educators, law enforcement, civic leaders, activists, gang members and business leaders in the Ferguson community in dialogue and Nonviolence365 training. The Center's work in Ferguson included a 4-day education and training for adults and a 4-day education and training for students and faculty at Riverview Gardens High School.  Participants were encouraged to commit themselves to embracing nonviolence as a lifestyle. The work in Ferguson, MO continues, and the requests for Nonviolence365 education and training continue to pour into The King Center.

Under Dr. King’s leadership, the Center has expanded and enhanced its community engagement to include partnering with the Urban League of Atlanta to provide Nonviolence365 experiences for 100 ex offenders and to encompass launching the Better Together: Racial Reconciliation initiative for pastors and church leaders.  Dr. King also led a King Center team in partnering with Ujamaa Place in St. Paul, Minnesota to provide Nonviolence365 for 120 youth and adults in the community that was home to Philando Castile. Further, in an effort to build relationships between community and law enforcement and to decrease incidents of police brutality, The King Center, under Dr. King’s leadership, facilitates Nonviolence365 for Law Enforcement. Participants in NV365 Law Enforcement trainings have included chiefs, sheriffs and captains from metro Atlanta departments, as well as directors for agencies such as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The Center received certification from the state of Georgia to accommodate participants receiving training credit for attending NV365 for Law Enforcement. 

Dr. King also initiated the Beloved Community Talks to begin having courageous conversations about the difficult racial issues impacting our communities, nation and world. The first was entitled ‘The Race Factor: The Lies, The Myths and The Truths’ and was held as part of its 2015 King Holiday Observance. The next year’s KHO Beloved Community Talk was ‘The Race Factor:  Rights vs Responsibilities,’ and in 2017, the focus was ‘Let’s Bridge the Racial Divide Across Urban, Suburban and Rural America.’

In addition to expanding and enhancing The King Center’s Nonviolence365 Education and Training Platform, Dr. King has focused her efforts on transforming the physical King Center campus. She began by using technology to add the sound of her parents voices to the campus experience. When you visit the Center, you not only get to see and read their words, you get to hear their voices. From quotes on the walls and the walkway landing to the restoration of the reflecting pool where the crypts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Mrs. Coretta Scott King are housed, the campus is being revived. 

Prior to taking on her role at the Center, Dr. King was already nationally and internationally known as one of the most powerful, motivating and life-changing orators and speakers on the circuit today.  She began her oratorical journey when she spoke in her mother’s stead at the United Nations at age 17. Over the years, she has spoken on the steps of The Lincoln Memorial, The White House, major corporations and universities, and in nations throughout the world, including South Africa, Germany, and New Zealand.

Dr. King is a graduate of Spelman College with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and of Emory University, with a Masters of Divinity and Doctorate of Law. She has also received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree from Wesley College. In honor of her mother, Coretta Scott King, she returned to her alma-mater, Spelman College, to announce the establishment of the Be A King® Scholarship. Dr. King is currently a member of the State Bar of Georgia and a trained mediator. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum, National Council of Negro Women and Leadership Atlanta’s Class of 2020.

With a strong concern for youth, family and community partnership, Dr. King was privileged to serve as a law clerk in the Fulton County Juvenile Court system, under Judge Glenda Hatchett, who was host of the nationally syndicated ‘Judge Hatchett Show.’ She has served as a mentor and advisor to the Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy (CSKYWLA). In 2014, Dr. King was delighted to serve as the high school commencement speaker for the inaugural graduating class of young ladies who she first met in 2007 when they were in the 6th grade. In January of 2011, she launched the “100 Days of Nonviolence” campaign at CSKYWLA to expose the girls to nonviolence as modeled by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Nonviolence 365), and to encourage them to begin embracing it as a way of life.

Dr. King has been featured on numerous television shows, in magazines, as a television commentator and is the recipient of a host of awards and accolades. In April 2008, she was one of the fifteen delegates selected to meet Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to the United States. On March 12, 2018, while being honored by the Center of Gandhi in Montelone di Puglia, Dr. King was privileged to have a private meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican.  In 2019, she was invited to participate in the World Summit of Nobel of Peace Laureates in Merida, Mexico.  Just recently she was honored by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation with the Co-Chair Phoenix Award.  A noted author, she has to her credit, ‘Hard Questions, Heart Answers,’ a compelling and inspiring book.

Dr. King is an innovative, energetic and committed leader dedicated to taking her parents’ legacy and teachings, The King Center, and the work of creating a more peaceful, just, humane world with Nonviolence365 into a new era.

Dr. Bernice A. King