More than 350 people attended the Black History Month celebration at Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette on Feb. 4.
The Saturday evening event featured speakers including orchestral and choir performances along with pop-up visual art.
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Choir member Scott Lee of Waukesha, Wisconsin said, “It’s wonderful that we’re bringing a European musical genre together with what is essentially an African American genre and we’re working together.”
Van Gilmer of Wilmette, music director at the Baha’i House of Worship for the North American Continent, was the event’s main organizer. Jocelyn C. Reynolds of the Bahá’í National Center in Evanston coordinated the visual arts and poetry. Planning for the event began last November.
“Since the ‘Oneness of Humanity’ is a central principle of the Baha’i faith, it makes sense to have an event like this at the Baha’i House of Worship, bringing together different people from all over in celebration of Black history, the arts and those that have influenced us and helped all of us to move towards oneness,” Reynolds said.
Gilmer was appointed to a two-year term in February 2021 to the Village of Wilmette’s Human Relations Commission. Saturday also showcased Gilmer’s contributions as a pianist and singer.
“Here in the North Shore, there is in every village no more than about 1% Black (residents),” Gilmer said. “And so, I think the people here have begun to recognize that there’s an absence of people of color.”
With last week marking the start of Black History Month, Gilmer said, “It’s a time to focus some on the accomplishments, the achievements, the growth of Black people in America. And the people here have been working in many ways.”
Gilmer pointed to local progressive work by HEROS, Healing Everyday Racism in Our Schools, and RAIN, Racial Awareness in the North Shore as shining examples.
“These folk are beginning to think about the absence of Black people and other people of color in the North Shore and beginning to think, ‘Now what can I do?’ and that’s a very difficult thing to solve because it’s been all these years,” Gilmer said. “All these decades, all these centuries of racism in America. I thought it was an important program to have, and particularly important to have here in the North Shore.”
“It just feels good that we’re able to do this and not in an adversary way. In the Baha’i faith, there’s a quotation that music is the ladder by which souls ascend to the realm on high,” Gilmer said. “Music can be very powerful.”
The program in Foundation Hall had standing room only attendance early into the evening.
“Filling this hall tonight is just the beginning of what we hope will be a series of connections and relationships that will grow and grow over the coming years,” said Baha’i Temple Director George Davis to resounding audience applause.
Also among speakers was Wilmette Village President Senta Plunkett.
Before the program, Plunkett responded to observations by Gilmer.
“It’s our hope that we want to make Wilmette a welcoming community and we want people of all races and all nationalities to want to live here, and when they do live here feel that they found home,” Plunkett said.
The Baha’i Temple Choir and Friends and the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra performed.
Philip Simmons of Honolulu, Hawaii, artistic director of American Music Festivals, was event conductor.
“Van Gilmer is a great man and my good friend,” Simmons said. “All of the collaborations that we do with him and with the (Baha’i) House or Worship are very, very special.”
Simmons is music director of the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra and resident conductor for the Orchestra of the Hawaiian Islands. Founded in 1990 by Simmons, the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra became part of American Music Festivals in 2002.
“Our organization is committed to inclusion and diversity, and what better way than to celebrate Black History Month here at the House of Worship so we’re really grateful,” Simmons said.
In the audience was Judy Hughes of Northbrook, Northbrook Historical Society president who has worked with Gilmer in committee roles.
“It’s difficult in the North Shore,” Hughes said. “We grew up in a white bubble. It’s an uncomfortable space for many.”
Hughes has lived all over the North Shore and said until she attended New Trier in the late 1950s, she never met a Black classmate. Since she graduated in 1962, she has seen change which she said gives her hope.
“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “Black History Month is American history, we need to understand that. And we need to make it a part of what we teach in history. There seems to be so much fear about teaching that.”
Of Van Gilmer, Hughes said, “I’m honored to call him my friend.”
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Karie Angell Luc is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.
