Gwendolyn zoharah simmons biography of martin

She is senior lecturer emerita at the University of Florida since her retirement in Her research has explored Islamic feminism and the impact of Sharia law on Muslim women. Gwendolyn Robinson was born in in Memphis , Tennessee, where she was raised by her Baptist grandmother who had been a sharecropper and whose own mother had been a slave , [ 6 ] [ 7 ] Robinson was raised with the knowledge of her family history and the ways in which it was affected by slavery and its legacies.

Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons is an

Simmons enrolled at Spelman College in Soon after she began classes, she was summoned by the dean of students, who deemed her natural hair to be an "embarrassment" to the school and its expectations that students be "well-groomed. In , Simmons completed her B. She went on to study at Temple University , receiving an M. Gwendolyn Robinson was inspired to get involved in the civil rights movement by two of her professors, Staughton Lynd and Esta Seaton.

She was careful to participate in office work only, where she was less likely to draw attention from her family and from the Spelman administration. She spent a night in jail and was again summoned by the dean of students, who put her on academic probation for violating Spelman's prohibitions on civil rights demonstrations. She participated in another sit-in at a Krystal restaurant a few days later, where she was once again arrested.

In light of these punitive measures, friends and fellow demonstrators throughout the Atlanta University Center rallied to Simmons' support, organizing a march to President Manley's house. Engaged by Freedom Summer materials, Robinson decided to spend the summer of volunteering with the Mississippi Freedom project. Spelman administrators informed Simmons' family of this decision, who feared for Simmons' safety in working in an area known for Ku Klux Klan violence.

They acted decisively to prevent her from leaving, bringing her home and intercepting correspondence from SNCC. In Oxford, she served as project trainer, working with Staughton Lynd in his capacity as orientation director, as well as Vincent Harding.