Barbara Talley became a Baha'i as a young woman. Today she is a motivational speaker, poet and a professional trainer who specializes in appreciative inquiry, diversity, leadership, resilience, the neuroscience of change, and effective Communication. Barbara is a mother of six is and is the author of six books and resides in the Washington, DC area, where she hosts monthly gatherings to promote race amity in the United States.
1.From Harriet Tubman to the fields
I experienced a lot of what slavery could have been like in my own childhood.
2.Say it loud: I’m black and I’m proud
I hated Black History Week – they didn’t show us with any dignity.
3.By any means necessary
I always had this question: why are there so many religions?
4.Girl, you ain’t no Baha’i
I had read others saying that black people are cursed, and here was a religion calling us noble.
5.Love isn’t something to be scheduled
I dealt with lots of racism – but I met these Baha’is that didn’t treat me like a color.
6.Race unity from Texas to Tennessee
There was a perception that if you talk about race, it creates the issue. We’re just sharing our stories.
7.A few white men on the other side
The second time I ran into the Ku Klux Klan was at a wedding outside a firehouse.
8.Spiritual reparations
The Bible said the last shall be the first, and the meek shall inherit the Earth. This is it.
9.Some people pretend to be asleep
Maybe we weren’t brought here. Maybe we were sent here.
10.Love and hate: a poem
On my way to heaven we stopped, and took a detour through hell.