She has lived her entire life in a quest to foster justice and diminish inequity. Her journey has taken her from the African American freedom struggle in Mississippi and Georgia to decades of international peace and justice work to addressing issues of women in Islam today. All of her work has been marked by a deep spirituality.
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- Stories
- Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons
Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons
Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons
Activist, Radical, Justice Worker
Atlanta, GA
SNCC Office Post Firebomb
A photo of the SNCC office where Simmons worked in Laurel, Mississippi in 1964. A firebomb destroyed the building, which was used as a Freedom School and library.
Voter Registration
Blacks gather for voter registration in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1964. As a project director for SNCC, Simmons helped organize voter registration, canvassing and mock elections. Witnessing blacks casting their ballots was a moving and satisfying experience for her.
Democratic National Convention 1964
Civil rights demonstrators hold an all-night vigil in front of the convention hall at the Democratic National Convention on August 24, 1964, advocating for the seating of the Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party (MDFP). Simmons and other civil rights activists had been instrumental in organizing the group, which protested the legitimacy of the all-white delegation to the convention.
Voter Registration Canvassing
Civil rights activists conduct voter registration canvassing in Hattiesburg on August 13, 1964. Simmons started her work in Hattiesburg, Mississippi because no formal chapter for SNCC existed in Laurel when she arrived. Simmons also canvassed and helped to organize mock elections.
Mennonite House, Atlanta, Ga
Simmons attended events at the Mennonite House, run by Vincent and Rosemarie Harding, in Atlanta, Georgia. At first she went as a way to get a meal on Sunday nights but soon found inspiration and meaning from the integrated meetings that discussed the evils of segregation and Jim Crow.
Murders in Mississippi
The Neshoba County deputy sheriff and others move the body of one of the three civil rights workers murdered in Mississippi in June 1964. Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney disappeared on their way to a civil rights event, their bodies discovered in a shallow grave near Philadelphia, Mississippi. During her orientation for the Mississippi Summer, Simmons met James Chaney personally.
Spelman College
An aerial view of Spelman College. For Simmons, going to Spelman was “a dream come true,” but her involvement in the civil rights movement, beginning with her participation with the Committee on the Appeal for Human Rights, eventually led her to student activism with SNCC in Mississippi.
Segregated Water Fountains
Segregated drinking fountains in a Georgia county courthouse, a visible representation of Jim Crow in the South. Simmons recalls that her family made every effort to protect her from the reality of inequality as a young girl, “schooling us into what to do and what not to do,” like going to the back of the bus, not using white restrooms, and not using white water fountains. For the most part, her family tried to keep her sheltered in the safety of the black community, but as she grew up she became exposed to the harsh truth of segregation.
Freedom House
The CoFo (Council of Federated Organizations) Freedom House in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Civil rights workers transformed the burned cross out front into a sign for freedom, showing their resolve to effect change in one of the most dangerous areas of the South despite threats to their safety.
SNCC Office Post Firebomb
Another view of the charred remains of the SNCC office in Laurel, destroyed by a firebomb in 1964.
Young Simmons
A photo of a young Gwendolyn Simmons. She gradually became more and more involved in the civil rights movement, despite the wishes of her family. Her grandmother never forgave her for dropping out of school.
Singing After Performance
After a performance by the Free Southern Theater, civil rights workers and local citizens in Hattiesburg sing “We Shall Overcome” at a Baptist church in August 1964. Simmons remembers that events like these helped foster unity in the Mississippi communities she and others worked in during the Mississippi Freedom Summer.
Dr. Lynd
A photo of Dr. Staughton Lynd in June 1964. Lynd was one of Simmons’ professors at Spelman College and helped push her into more involvement with activism. During her second year at Spelman, Simmons worked with Lynd on developing the curriculum for the Freedom Schools organized during the Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964.
Dr. Staughton Lynd
Dr. Staughton Lynd holding a lecture for Mississippi Freedom School teachers in June 1964. Simmons worked with Lynd and Charles Cobb in designing the schools and volunteered to be the director of a Freedom School herself.
Simmons Speaking 1964
A photo of Simmons speaking to an assembled group, taken by photographer Tamio Wakayama in Mississippi in 1964.
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