Willingham-Toure, Gloria

Metadata

Abstract

An oral history with Gloria J. Willingham-Toure, chief executive officer of Afram Global Organization Inc., a nonprofit charitable organization based in Southern California, and the founder of its Village P.r.o.j.e.c.t.s. The interview was conducted for the Women, Politics, and Activism Since Suffrage Oral History Project for California State University, Fullerton’s Center for Oral and Public History. The purpose of this interview was to gather information regarding Willingham-Toure’s life history and community-based work and experiences. Specifically, this interview details her family background and childhood growing up in Little Rock and Holly Grove, Arkansas; recalls parents’ and extended family’s early encouragement for her to follow her dreams; details family’s history in Civil Rights, which included her maternal grandmother’s involvement within the NAACP, as well as her paternal grandfather’s local activism; reflects on her many mentors and how they helped her overcome racial barriers; remembers being in the second cohort to attend Little Rock Central High School after the Little Rock Nine desegregated the school; recollects college background and earning her Ph.D. in Education; discusses decision to go into nursing and becoming an RN; explains her dissertation work and research on nursing and attributive brightness; talks about her involvement with the Veteran’s Affairs in Shreveport, Louisiana, and how she was the first African American to hold the position of Associate Chief of Nursing Education; recollects her teaching and partnered learning experiences at California State University, Long Beach, within the Department of Nursing, which included Health on Wheels; remembers her academic leadership at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Saudi Arabia, as well as her cultural adaptation; recalls her work and experiences as the first Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Fielding Graduate University; discusses how she founded Afram’s project group, Village P.r.o.j.e.c.t.s. and its goals; shares her involvement in the United Nations Forum for the Eradication of Poverty; reflects on her 2006 trip to South Africa to study the educational healthcare systems in Johannesburg; expresses her desire to learn and know how healthcare issues are addressed globally; reflects on her work and experiences with the G.R.E.E.N. Foundation; provides her thoughts on community organizing, activism, and feminism; shares examples of how gender and race affected the way people see her as a leader; explains why social justice is important to her, as well as the role of faith in her activism; reflects on how her work has shaped the person she is today, why it is important for women to get involved in activism, and finally, gives advice to young women wanting to get involved.