Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons
Born	August 9, 1944 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Alma mater	Antioch University, B.A. Temple University, M.A., Ph.D
Occupation	Senior Lecturer Emerita
Organization	University of Florida, retired 2019

Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons (born Gwendolyn Robinson on August 9, 1944) is an American activist and a retired professor. She is known for her work in the Civil Rights Movement and for her research on women in Islam.

Simmons was a member of two important groups: the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Nation of Islam (NOI). As a professor at the University of Florida, she taught about Islamic feminism and the effect of Sharia (Islamic law) on Muslim women's lives. She retired in 2019.

For her important work, she has received many awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship.

Early Life and Schooling

Gwendolyn Robinson was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Her grandmother, who had been a sharecropper, raised her. Her great-grandmother had been a slave. Growing up, Gwendolyn learned about her family's history and how slavery had affected them. Her family always told her that education was very important. She was the first person in her family to go to college.

In 1962, Simmons started at Spelman College. She had a disagreement with the school's dean because of her natural hairstyle. The school wanted students to look a certain way, but Simmons believed in being herself. This was one of many times she stood up for her beliefs at Spelman.

In 1989, Simmons earned her first degree from Antioch University. She later went to Temple University, where she earned a master's degree and a Ph.D. in religion, with a focus on Islam.

Becoming a Student Activist

Two of her professors, Staughton Lynd and Esta Seaton, inspired Gwendolyn to join the Civil Rights Movement. She started volunteering at the office of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). SNCC was a group of students working to end unfair treatment of African Americans. She worked with famous leaders like John Lewis and James Forman.

In 1964, she was arrested for taking part in a protest at a restaurant that would not serve Black people. The protest was a "sit-in," where activists would sit peacefully at a lunch counter. Because of her arrest, Spelman College put her on academic probation and took away her scholarship. Her friends and other students marched to the college president's house to support her. The school let her stay but kept her on strict probation.

Working for Civil Rights

Despite the risks, Simmons decided to spend the summer of 1964 in Mississippi. She joined a project called Freedom Summer. Its goal was to help African Americans register to vote and to set up special schools called Freedom Schools. Her family was worried about her safety because groups like the Ku Klux Klan were very active and violent in Mississippi.

Leading in Mississippi

Simmons was sent to Laurel, Mississippi, one of the most dangerous areas in the state. She often faced threats and trouble from the police. When her project's director was put in jail, Simmons took his place. She became one of only seven women to lead a Freedom Summer project.

Under her leadership, the volunteers in Laurel ran a Freedom School, a daycare, and a library. They also helped people register to vote. Simmons stayed in Mississippi for 18 months. During this time, she created a policy to make sure women in her project were treated with respect. This experience helped her develop her ideas about feminism.

The Atlanta Project and Black Power

In 1966, Simmons helped lead the SNCC Atlanta Project. This project was an early example of the Black Power movement. It focused on helping Black communities gain political power and improve their neighborhoods.

Simmons believed that white activists could best help the movement by working to fight racism in their own white communities. This would allow Black organizers to focus on their own communities. She helped write a paper about these ideas, which caused some debate within SNCC.

Joining the Nation of Islam

While in SNCC, Simmons heard a recording of Malcolm X and was inspired by his message. In 1967, she joined the Nation of Islam (NOI) and converted to Islam. The NOI was a religious and political organization for Black Americans.

Simmons found that the NOI had strict rules for women. She believed women should have leadership roles, just as they did in SNCC. She disagreed with some of the group's rules about women's personal lives and their place in the organization. Because of these disagreements, she left the NOI in 1972.

Research on Islam and Women

In 1971, Simmons began studying Sufism, a mystical form of Islam. Her teacher, Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, gave her the name "Zoharah."

As a professor, Simmons studied how Sharia (Islamic law) affects the lives of Muslim women today. She traveled to countries like Jordan, Egypt, and Syria for her research.

At the University of Florida, she taught about race, gender, and religion. She wanted to show that the religion of Islam respects women, based on the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. She believes that some modern views have forgotten this important history.

Personal Life

While working on a political campaign in 1965, Robinson met Michael Simmons. They later married and have a daughter, Aishah Shahidah Simmons, who is a filmmaker.

Writings

• "Striving for Muslim Women's Human Rights--Before and Beyond Beijing," Syracuse University Press (2000)
• "Racism in Higher Education," University of Florida Journal of Law and Public Policy (2002)
• "Are we up to the challenge? The need for a radical re-ordering of the Islamic discourse on women," Oneworld Publications (2003)
• "African American Islam as an Expression of Converts' Religious Faith and Nationalist Dreams and Ambitions," University of Texas Press (2006)
• "From Muslims in America to American Muslims," Journal of Islamic Law and Culture (2008)
• "Mama Told Me Not To Go," Pearson Prentice Hall (2008)
• "Martin Luther King Jr. Revisited: A Black Power Feminist Pays Homage to the King," Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (2008)
• "From Little Memphis Girl to Mississippi Amazon," University of Illinois Press (2010)