Activist, Public Speaker & Author
Written by Tawana Bain | Photo submitted by Charlene Hampton Holloway, RN
Charlene Hampton Holloway is a retired registered nurse., a lifelong Civil Rights Activist, an author, and an inspiring public speaker. She’s the author of Whitlock’s Compositions, the biography of three Black women living during the Great Depression through the 1960s Civil Rights era.
She’s presently serving her fourth term as an Executive Committee volunteer member for the nearly 110-year-old Louisville NAACP branch, where she was a member of the Louisville NAACP Youth Council in 1961. As a 13-year-old peaceful, non-violent Civil Rights activist, she faced harassment and was even arrested. She encouraged her dad, a World War II veteran, to attend the Freedom March with her at the Kentucky State Capitol. There, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. brought Jackie Robinson, her father’s favorite ball player, to speak. In 2014, Charlene invited her kids and grandkids to march with her again on the 50th anniversary of that event.
Charlene has been married to Chester Holloway for 56 years. They have three adult children and six grandchildren with whom they enjoy spending time, especially during the holidays. She and her husband are St. Stephen Baptist Church members and attend Sunday School. She is also a charter member of the church’s Legacy Choir. Charlene recently sold the play rights for Whitlock’s Compositions so that the educational, musical stage play can be seen across America.
BK Royston Publishing
280 pages
“Whitlock’s Compositions tells the true tale of three African American women who did not give up on their chosen careers and obtained their education during the Great Depression through the 1960s Civil Rights era. As well as documenting well-known African American athletes in the 1960s, this inspiring story speaks aloud to the saga African American families face throughout the country. The relevancy of this story to today’s world [post-pandemic] is powerful as author Charlene Hampton Holloway, RN recounts how her mother, C. Thelma Whitlock, was nursed back to health as a one-year-old baby by her mother, Parthenia Whitlock, during the 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic.” — Barnes & Noble
