Sally Rowley

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

Sally Rowley
A young white woman with straight hair parted center and dressed back to the nape; she is wearing a light-colored sleeveless top with a mock turtleneck, and the chain of a police number board is visible around her neck, because this is a mug shot.
Rowley's 1961 mugshot
Born
Sara Jane Rowley

(1931-10-20)October 20, 1931
Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedMay 14, 2020(2020-05-14) (aged 88)
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Alma materStephens College
Occupation(s)Civil rights advocate, aircraft pilot, flight attendant, secretary, jeweler, hawker
EmployerAmerican Airlines

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. Romero, Simon (2020-05-21). "Sally Rowley, Jewelry Maker and Freedom Rider, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  2. Nadel, Logan (July 15, 2020). "Sally Rowley: Civil Rights Activist and Friend of the People". Trenton Daily. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  3. "Cuban Gunmen Hijack Airliner". Spokane Chronicle. 1959-04-16. p. 13. Retrieved 2020-12-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  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. "Rowley, Sally Jane, 1931-". Welcome to the Civil Rights Digital Library. 1961-07-29. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  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. "UA student: My grandmother deserved better than 'goodbye' through a window". Arizona Daily Star. May 17, 2020. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  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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