Sally_Rowley

Sally Rowley

Sally Rowley

American jeweler and civil rights activist (1931–2020)

Sara Jane "Sally" Rowley (October 20, 1931 – May 14, 2020) was an American jewelry-maker and civil rights activist.[1]

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Early life and education

Rowley was born in Trenton, New Jersey,[2] the daughter of Emos Rowley and Sara Rowley. She graduated from Stephens College in Missouri. At Stephens, she learned to fly small planes and worked as a flight attendant for American Airlines after graduation.[1]

Activism

Rowley worked as a secretary in New York in the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1959, she was aboard a plane hijacked by Cuban gunmen.[3] She joined the Freedom Riders, who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States to challenge the non-enforcement of the Supreme Court's ruling that segregated public buses were unconstitutional.[4] She was arrested with other Freedom Riders by Jackson County police in July 1961.[5][6] After serving time in Mississippi State Penitentiary she returned to New York, but later lived in Mexico, Guatemala, Hawaii, California, and New Mexico, making and selling her jewelry.[1]

Personal life and death

Rowley's partner was artist Felix Pasilis; they never formally married, but lived and worked together from the 1960s until his death in 2018. They had children, Sofie and Oliver, and raised his daughter, Beatrice.[1]

She died from COVID-19 in May 2020, at age 88, after it swept through her Tucson, Arizona, nursing home amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Arizona.[1] Her granddaughter, Anika Pasilis, wrote an op-ed essay about attending Rowley's deathbed through a window at the nursing home.[7][8]

References

  1. [1]
    Romero, Simon (2020-05-21). "Sally Rowley, Jewelry Maker and Freedom Rider, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  2. [2]
    Nadel, Logan (July 15, 2020). "Sally Rowley: Civil Rights Activist and Friend of the People". Trenton Daily. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  3. [3]
    "Cuban Gunmen Hijack Airliner". Spokane Chronicle. 1959-04-16. p. 13. Retrieved 2020-12-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. [4]
    Arsenault, Raymond. Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice; "Appendix: Roster of Freedom Riders" Oxford University Press (2011); page 574. ISBN 9780199754311
  5. [5]
    "Rowley, Sally Jane, 1931-". Welcome to the Civil Rights Digital Library. 1961-07-29. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  6. [6]
    Arsenault, R. (2007). Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. Pivotal moments in American history. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-532714-4. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  7. [7]
    "UA student: My grandmother deserved better than 'goodbye' through a window". Arizona Daily Star. May 17, 2020. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  8. [8]
    Gorden, Max (May 26, 2020). "Freedom Rider Dies in Tucson Care Facility after Contracting COVID-19". AZFamily. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
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