Browning, Joan C.

Joan C. Browning grew up in rural South Georgia, graduated from Lumber City High School, and was the first in her family to attend college. She started college in 1960 at Georgia State College for Women (Milledgeville, Ga.) and was asked to leave after worshipping at a black church. She moved to Atlanta in 1961 and became involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. On December 10, 1961, Browning was among eight Freedom Riders who traveled on a segregated Georgia Central Railroad from Atlanta to Albany, Georgia. Upon their arrival in Albany, the Freedom Riders were arrested, incarcerated, and eventually charged with unlawful assembly. She continued to work in human relations and anti-poverty programs throughout the 1960s and helped organize the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. Browning eventually earned her Bachelor of Arts from West Virginia State College and became a free-lance writer.