Naima Richmond

One of the most important things I learned in my life is to stand up for what you feel is right even though the whole world may be against you. I feel I still do that today. Although I know that in some instances it didn't pay but I know deep down in my heart that I had to stand firm on my beliefs. I am a writer of poetry. I write poetry that reflects my growing up in Atlanta, my experience riding the streetcar as a little girl, and going to a segregated school. In my work I advocate peace because I truly believe it begins with the individual. We need to and share it with others and help them see a better way through peace.

Naima Richmond

My name is Naima Richmond. I was born August 20th, 1932, in a small town called Milon, Georgia. When I was very young my mother separated from my father and we moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Growing up we were very poor. We lived in a house that had big planks on the floor instead of carpeting or linoleum. Our yard did not have grass and we had to sweep the dirt to keep the trash off of the yard. I remember going to school with cardboard soles in my shoes because they had worn out and we couldn't afford to buy new shoes.

We didn't have a lot of toys. So we had to make believe we had toys. In the summer we found old planks and a ball and those planks became our bats to play baseball. In the winter the city would block off the streets so we could skate. We only had two pair of skates and there were four of us. So the four of us had to share those two pairs of skates and take turns. We had to make believe and improvise with a lot of our toys.

I went to a segregated school in Atlanta called David T. Howard. It was named after the first black embalmer in Atlanta, Georgia. The books were in such bad condition because when we got them they had gone to about four or five other schools before they got to our school. But we learned from those tattered books. They helped to produce doctors, lawyer, preachers, teachers and blue-collar workers. Dr. Martin Luther King and I went to the same school. He was four grades ahead of me and, although he would not have known me personally, as children we would say “hello” in passing. I also went to Ebenezer Baptist Church and many Sundays I heard his father, Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. preach.

When I got on the streetcar one day, my mother took me by my hand and said, "You can't sit there," and she pointed to sign on the streetcar: "Colored at the back of streetcar." I didn’t understand. Why should I have to get off of my seat and let someone else have it because of the color of my skin? There were some streetcars that we could not even get on. We would stand and wait for a streetcar to come and it would come and say, "White only" on it and we couldn't get on. I just felt that no one should have to go through this regardless of who they are.

I came to Minneapolis in 1952, because my husband was stationed here at a place called Wold-Chamberlain Air Force Base. We were supposed to be here for only two months but I'm still here. I have three daughters and one son, and now five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. My favorite memory with my kids growing up was all of the fun things we did together. We would bake together, go to the Walker Art Center and go to the library for reading hours. Every Friday night we’d stay up late because they didn't have to get up the next morning. So as a treat we would have popcorn and hot dogs.

When I came to Minneapolis, I was appalled to know that there was no hot lunch school program for elementary school kids. Years later there were people in the community wanting to know what were some of the things that we would like to help change. I suggested a hot lunch program for our elementary school kids. I went around with the committee in the north side of Minneapolis to get people to sign a petition for a hot lunch program. We took it down to the Board of Education and that was the beginning of hot lunch school programs in Minneapolis.

I have done a lot of traveling. I was in China for nine days for the United Nation's Fourth World Conference on Women. I wrote a paper on the power of poetry and women’s rights and won a scholarship to go to the conference from the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. I have also been to Africa twice. In Africa it was overwhelming because I felt like I had gone back from whence I came. There was a sense of joy at the beauty as well as a sense of sadness because of the poverty.