In 1963, 15-year-old Millicent Brown made history as she walked up the steps of Rivers High School, an all-white high school in Charleston. However, she would not have been the one to integrate Rivers High School, if it had not been for slow court litigation. Instead, it was supposed to be her sister, Minerva, who graduated high school before the completion of the lawsuit, but Millicent took her place as the lead plaintiff in the case “Millicent Brown, et al v. School District 20.” She is one of 11 students known as "The Charleston Eleven."

Dr. Brown is a lifelong community advocate and spokesperson for economic, social and educational improvements in impoverished neighborhoods and communities of color throughout the South, the nation and the world. She specializes in ongoing analysis of the modern civil rights movement, and explores social justice dynamics and intersections of race, gender and class in contemporary society.

Brown is co-founder and Project Director of a national initiative to identify the“first children”, like herself, to desegregate previously all-white schools (Somebody Had to Do It Project). She has held a variety of history and museum related faculty positions and serves as consultant for numerous museums, historic sites and social justice programs in North and South Carolina.

Currently, she is working at the College of Charleston, Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, where she makes presentations, conducts workshops and advises on issues related to educational reform in South Carolina and civil rights history. She is responsible for collecting oral histories of Charlestonians.

She is a 1975 graduate of The College of Charleston, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in History. In 1978 graduate of The Citadel, where she earned a Master of Arts degree in Education. 

She is a 1997 graduate of Florida State University, Tallahassee, where she earned a Ph.D. in 20th, 19th and 18th Century U.S. History; Concentrations: the Civil Rights Movement; African American History; Public History and Archives Management. 

Dr. Brown's presentation, “Why Somebody Had to Do It”, A conversation on the primary reason for school desegregation, is available for classroom use.