Segregation in America Growing up in "black world" Van Gilmer: It was scary to participate in the Civil Rights Movement because we had no clue what would happen. I was arrested many times.
Arts and Social Change The Black Church: a spiritual and musical legacy Van Gilmer: The minister talked about us being one family, and about loving one another. And that stayed with me.
Bahai Religion Meeting white Americans and Baha'is – for the first time Van Gilmer: I was scared to death because my first Baha'i meeting was in a white community.
Racial Unity White people were suddenly in my life Van Gilmer: I mean you hear the n-word now. But that was a regular word growing up.
Arts and Social Change Introducing gospel music to the Baha'i community Van Gilmer: Singing the gospel music brought to many of us, who are African-Americans, the reality of the Baha’i Faith. We knew it included everybody.
Racism in America How to talk about race in America Van Gilmer: There were five of us, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Baha’i, who walked through a museum to see the history of slaves in America.
Racism in America The only way to eliminate racism Van Gilmer: My granddaughter went outside and saw a white noose hanging from a tree in her yard.
Bahai Community June & Richard Thomas Richard Thomas, born in 1939 in Detroit, MI, became a Baha'i after his Navy service, and is professor of history at Michigan State University. June Manning Thomas was born in Orangeburg, SC, in 1950, became a Baha'i through Richard, and is professor of urban planning at the University of Michigan.
Bahai Religion From South Carolina to Michigan My church was filled with Civil Rights protestors – one of them said I should explore the Baha’i faith.
Segregation in America A domestic, a laundryman & a professor My parents sent me to an integrated school but I was too mischievous – so I returned to an all-black community.
Bahai Religion Like a thief in the night I was a fundamentalist black Baptist who believed in the return of Christ – but the Baha’i teachings blew my mind.
Bahai Community Leaving home If you’ve been in a black church you know how dynamic it is – leaving it for an inter-racial community was traumatic.
Civil Rights Movement Three years of harassment and ostracism I was part of the vanguard of black students who integrated my high school – I rode in a police car to go to class.
Racism in America The Orangeburg massacre It was so close – if I’d been standing on the front steps of my church at that moment I would’ve seen everything.
Bahai Community Growing up as a Civil Rights warrior The Baha’i community taught racial unity and they also lived it – which was the goal of the Civil Rights movement.
Racial Identity Hollow options in the 1960s We had friends who were Black Panthers – there was a lot of fronting with bullets and guns.
Racial Identity Black is beautiful here was a deeply entrenched self-hate among dark-skinned African-Americans – it dated back to slavery.
Bahai Community Abdu’l-Baha in America The head of the Baha’i faith visited the United States in 1912 and described blacks and whites as sapphires and pearls.
Bahai Religion Applying Baha’i ideas to scholarship & academia White students felt guilty and didn’t know what to do, and students of color would feel extremely angry.
Racism in America Urban redevelopment and race My field, urban planning, has destroyed many African-American communities. I saw it as my charge to address that.
Bahai Community Building Building new communities in the inner cities What’s facing us now in achieving race unity is that some people are privileged – many others are severely disadvantaged.
Segregation in America Ending residential segregation is not gentrification Baha’i institutions say we must live among people of different races – and to show them hospitality and love.
