Brenda Travis

Released
Date of birth:16. 03. 1945
Date of death:17. 05. 2026
Age:81† Deceased
Gender:Female
Race:Black
Era:1960s
State:Mississippi
Time Imprisoned:
7 Months 17 Days
Support
Civil Rights
Brenda Travis

Biography

Brenda Travis was a 16-year-old arrested in August 1961 in a sit-in at the McComb, Mississippi Greyhound bus station and sentenced to a year in reform school. Her punishment helped spark the October 1961 walkout by McComb high-school students.

Cases

Charges: Sit-in / breach of peace — McComb bus-station desegregation
Arrested: Aug 30, 1961
Incarcerated: Aug 30, 1961
Released: Sep 30, 1961
Sentence: Held after the August 30, 1961 bus-station sit-in; released on bond September 30, 1961, according to her contemporary autobiography. The later October arrest and Oakley confinement were a separate custody episode.
Convicted: Yes
Charges: McComb school walkout and prayer protest following expulsion for civil-rights activism
Arrested: Oct 4, 1961
Incarcerated: Oct 4, 1961
Released: Apr 21, 1962
Sentence: Jailed following the October 4 protest and transferred to Oakley Training School on October 6, 1961. Released into a professor's custody on the Saturday before Easter 1962 (April 21), with a condition to leave Mississippi within 24 hours. This was separate from her August-September bus-station imprisonment.

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