Beauty from Within

coolchicksfromhistory:

Gwendolyn Greene, 1961.

In 1961, Gwendolyn was a 19 year old student at Howard University when she decided to take part in a Freedom Ride from New Orleans to Jackson, Mississippi. She spent 40 days in jail. 

The previous summer she was one of five Howard students arrested for riding the carousel at the segregated Glen Echo Park in Maryland.  The resulting protest led to the park being integrated in 1961 and a 1964 Supreme Court ruling that the local police had unjustly enforced segregation at the private park. 

Gwendolyn later married fellow Freedom Rider Travis Britt and raised two sons while working in real estate and human resources. 

Beginning in 2003, Gwendolyn represented District 47 (Prince George’s County) in the Maryland State Senate.  She won her seat with 99.4% of the vote.  One of her main goal was legalizing gay marriage in Maryland.  Unfortunately, Gwendolyn died in office in 2008.