Wilma Ellis Kazemzadeh was born in Altamont, IL, in 1929, into the only black family to ever live in Altamont up to that time. Her grandmother’s grandmother had staged a dramatic escape from slavery. Wilma’s mother’s family were Baptist and her father’s family were Methodist; through a sister, the family discovered the Baha’i teachings and became Baha’is. Wilma’s family later resettled in Phoenix, AZ, where she attended an all-black school notable for its high-quality teaching. Wilma worked to promote racial harmony human rights issues as an adult – in the United States and around the world – and collaborated with the US government and the United Nations. Today she lives in Los Angeles, CA, and remains an active member of her Baha’i community.
1.A family’s legacy
My eighth-grade teacher taught us as if the eighth grade was going to be our last year of education.
2.An ancestor’s escape from slavery
My grandmother’s grandmother ran and hid with her baby under a log to escape her captors.
3.Civil Rights was just life
When I was 14, I got all dressed up to see the national NAACP leader speak at the YWCA.
4.Working for racial harmony
I am a black woman so I felt my duty was to talk about race in a positive way, not dwelling on what we have been through.
5.Pushing forward as Baha’is
When Emmett Till was killed, many Baha’is said it was too bad, but we did not have the experience to address it.
6.Showing the way to survive
Once you deal with people who are persecuted you never really stop.
7.On raising black children
As I get older, I find that my kids don’t need my opinion, they need my love.