A woman who was 16 when she helped desegregate schools in the United States was given a key to the city from Youngstown's mayor.
 
Minnijean Brown-Trickey was one of the Little Rock Nine, who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. 
 
The students were prevented from entering the racially segregated school by a mob and the state national guard that was ordered by the governor to stop them.
 
President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the National Guard and had the National Guard and U.S. Army guard the students who wanted to attend school. 
 
Councilwoman Anita Davis says that while Brown-Trickey faced violence and threats for her actions it didn't stop her from advocating for civil rights, something Brown-Trickey continues to do even in her 80's.
 
"She comes here almost every year, except for during COVID, and she speaks to audiences to our young people to go towards nonviolence, and to get their education. We can't do more than that," Youngstown Councilwoman Anita Davis said.
 
Next week local civil rights educator and founder of Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past Penny Wells will be inducted into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame. 
 
Well's programs are responsible for not only bringing history to life for students but for also bringing Minnijean Brown-Trickey and other civil rights icons to the Mahoning Valley.
 
Wells is known for teaching students how to lobby for changes in state and local government.