Biography
Early Life
Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on August 9, 1944. She was raised in the Baptist church by her grandmother, Rhonda Bell Robinson. She was introduced to the painful history of her family at an early age. Her grandmother worked as a sharecropper and made sure Gwendolyn understood where they came from. When Simmons was a young girl she promised her grandmother she would never go to Mississippi because of how dangerous and racist it was. She went on to become the first person in her family to graduate from high school and attend college.
Activism
Simmons moved to Atlanta, Georgia when she was 18 years old. She studied Sociology at Spelman College in 1962. This was right in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. Her grandmother urged her to keep her head down and protect her scholarship. At first she listened, but it became harder to stay on the sidelines. She joined the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In the beginning she stayed out of trouble and avoided arrest. But soon she was standing with her friends, singing, as police dragged them away. Her life as an activist had begun.
She got involved in Freedom Summer in 1964. This was a campaign to register Black voters in Mississippi — the one state her grandmother had told her never to set foot in. She worked in the SNCC Atlanta headquarters print shop while going to school full time. She also prepared materials for Freedom Schools and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. When she learned she would be sent to Laurel, Mississippi — a place known as too dangerous to send white people — she felt both terrified and determined. She believed Freedom Summer could shake the nation awake.
Simmons brought together 23 volunteers in Laurel to push for the integration of local restaurants and schools. They built Freedom Schools and a library. She organized a literacy program and a practice voter registration project. She was arrested and held for 15 days after a march in Jackson. She was held at a fairground normally used to house livestock. During that time, she was beaten and mistreated. After leaving Laurel, she spent a short time working with Friends of SNCC in New York before returning to Atlanta.
Religious Education
Simmons was drawn to Malcolm X’s message and joined the Nation of Islam (NOI) in 1967. She soon had issues with the gender rules in the NOI. She left the NOI to become a disciple of a Sufi Islamic mystic, Sheikh Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyadeen. She was given the name Zoharah.
Simmons turned to higher education after years of activism. She continued researching and writing about social justice throughout her academic career. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Human Services from Antioch University in 1989. She earned a master’s degree in Comparative Religion from Temple University. She earned a doctorate in Islamic Studies. Her academic work allowed her to explore the connections between religion, gender, and social justice, with a focus on Islam.
Her research brings together women’s studies, religious studies, and sociology. Her writing centers on the challenges Muslim women face and pushes for greater equality within religious traditions. She taught at the University of Florida for several years, where her classes on gender, religion, and Islamic studies were popular with students.
Promoting Women’s Rights and Interfaith Understanding
Simmons has spoken out against gender discrimination in religious settings for much of her career. She supports changes that move Muslim communities toward greater justice and equality for women. She challenges readings of Islamic texts that limit women’s roles and advocates for female leadership in Muslim spaces.
She also believes strongly in building understanding across different religious traditions. She has taken part in interfaith events and conferences. She works to encourage respect, cooperation, and honest dialogue between people of different faiths.
Legacy
Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons has spent her life working to improve conditions for people and communities who have been left behind. She has made a lasting mark on the fields of religious studies and social justice as a scholar, advocate, and civil rights activist. Her story reflects a life built on purpose and commitment. She leaves a legacy of justice-making from a childhood shaped by her grandmother’s memories of slavery to the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement, and to university classrooms.
