As Joan Trumpauer (nee Joan Nelson), Mulholland became involved in civil rights activities during her first year in college at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Mulholland was a Freedom Rider in 1961, and in September, transferred to previously all-black Tougaloo Southern Christian College in Jackson, Mississippi. With several other Tougaloo students, she participated in the boycott of white-owned businesses in downtown Jackson during 1962 and 1963. The Jackson movement sought to end discrimination against black workers and customers, and to desegregate stores and lunch counters. Mulholland also worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. At this writing (1980), she lives in Arlington, Virginia with her five sons, and is employed with the local school system.
