As one of the “Little Rock Nine,” Brown Trickey made history by taking that courageous step, breaking the racial barrier of a school that accepted only white students.

By doing so, she was drawn into one of the most pivotal acts of the 20th century American civil rights movement, changing not only her life, but the lives of black students across the country.

Now, 50 years later, Brown Trickey will walk through the doors of two Canby schools to share her story with students.

Brown Trickey, a longtime civil-rights activist and winner of the Congressional Gold Medal, will speak to schoolwide assemblies at Ackerman Middle School and Canby High School Tuesday.

She will also participate in a full day of activities at Ackerman, interacting with students.

Nine student members of the Ackerman Student Peace Advocacy group have been helping organize activities connected to her visit, giving presentations to classes about her story and the importance of demonstrating tolerance toward fellow students, said Ackerman teacher Tony Crawford.

Ackerman staff members created a special T-shirt for students to wear during Brown Trickey’s visit, with the question, “What Do You Stand For?” across the front.

A contingency of Ackerman students dressed in the uniform T-shirts will welcome Brown Trickey at the Portland International Airport when her plane arrives Monday.

She will then join Ackerman students at 11 a.m. Tuesday in recognizing the 50th anniversary of the racial integration of Central High School in Little Rock after spending part of the morning at Canby High School.

Ackerman students have planned a whole-school assembly followed by a town hall event to be held in the school library.

The assembly audience will include students from Baker Prairie Middle School, Ninety-One School, Lee Elementary School, and Eccles Elementary School.

More than 1,300 students are expected to be on hand to hear Brown Trickey’s message, Crawford said.

Crawford arranged the visit last summer after meeting Brown Trickey and five other members of the Little Rock Nine at the National Education Association conference in Philadelphia.

“I told her about our Student Peace Advocacy group at Ackerman and she was intrigued,” Crawford said. “She told me, ‘I’ve never been to OR-Y-GONE’ and accepted my invitation.”

Brown Trickey’s visit won’t be the first time Ackerman has had a prominent peace advocate. Last spring Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Arun promoted the message of peace at the school.

Crawford told her about Gandhi’s visit, “and she told me, ‘Well, I’ve got to come to your school then. I’m a much better speaker than Arun Gandhi.’”

For months, the students have been studying America’s civil rights movement and nonviolence teachings as groundwork for the event. He said teachers and student leaders have been preparing for the visit industriously, with the aim of making Brown Trickey’s appearance a “high-quality time” for students.

“We want to take long-lasting lessons from her visit,” Crawford said.

During the school year, Ackerman Student Peace Advocacy and WEB (Welcome Everybody) students have led campuswide campaigns encouraging fellow students to move from tolerance to acceptance of all people, Crawford said.

Ackerman school activities emphasize character education themes to help reinforce this goal. The entire student body has focused on themes such as courage, justice, and respect. Brown Trickey’s visit will be a highlight in the Ackerman effort, he said.

“Our kids are working really, really hard to make an influence not only on our school, but on the world,” Crawford said.

His geography students recently completed a unit of study regarding the relationship between the Israelis and Palestinians, and the 100 students each wrote a letter to the president of the United States Institute of Peace, proposing a peace treaty be drawn between the two warring countries.