:User:Smkolins/Sandbox
Thelma Thurston Gorham (1912 - 1992) was an accomplished African American female journalist and newspaper editor, being called "the most exciting black female journalist in the country" of most of the 20th Century, publishing articles in The Pittsburgh Courier, The Chicago Defender, The Crisis, and numerous smaller newspapers, and the figure at the center of the most radical change in Black journalism when she was named chief editor of the US Army's Apache Sentinel. Amid an award-winning editorial series named "How Ready are We for Integration" in 1954, she joined the Bahá'í Faith, had and would teach at HBCUs Hampton Institute, Lincoln University, Southern University, and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University(FAMU), eventually raising the practice of journalism at the last to being a department and then a separate school, while also founding the modern Bahá'i community in Tallahassee. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis in 1935 and then a Master of Arts in Journalism in 1951, and passed her preliminary exams for her PhD, leaving only her dissertation, leaving aside a lifetime of reporting, some of which continues to be echoed in recent scholarship. Lacking this PhD, she was not named to lead the school Journalism and Mass Media Department when it was formed, yet granted an honorary PhD by FAMU posthumously.
Born and raised
Thelma Thurston was born February 21, 1913, to African-Americans Frank and Bertha Thurston,{{cite book
| editor-last = Smith
| editor-first = Jessie Carney
| editor-last2 = Phelps
| editor-first2 = Shirelle
| title =Notable Black American Women |chapter=Thelma Thurston Gorham |author=Joan C. Elliott
| publisher = Gale Research
| volume = 2
| date = 1996
| location = Detroit
| pages = 251-3
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ssMBzqrUpjwC |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/notableblackamer00jess/page/251/mode/1up
| isbn = 9780810391772 |oclc= 24468213}}{{cite web
| title = Thelma Thurston, United States Census
| url = https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VR22-6WQ
| website = FamilySearch.org
| date = April 2, 1940
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}{{registration required}} in segregated Kansas City, Missouri.{{cite journal
| last = Gotham
| first = Kevin Fox
| title = Missed Opportunities, Enduring Legacies - School Segregation and Desegregation in Kansas City, Missouri
| journal = American Studies
| volume = 43
| issue = 2
| pages = 7–8
| date = 2003
| issn = 0026-3079
| oclc= 5544991866
| access-date = }} In January 1920, she was living with grandparents John and Anga Thurston. Her grandfather was a freight handler.{{cite web
| title = Thelma M Thurston, United States Census, 1920
| url = https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8HD-D3Q
| website = FamilySearch.org
| date = Jan 12, 1920
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}{{registration required}} She attended the black public schools in Kansas City, and, in 1925, she moved with her mother to Detroit and worked with her mother as a maid, starting at just twelve years old. There, she attended Hamtramck High School and Northern High School, before moving back to Kansas City, where she attended Northeast Junior High School and Sumner High School,{{cite news
| title = $100,000 in fellowships awarded to 18
| newspaper = Omaha Star |via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Omaha, Nebraska
| pages = 1 [https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-thurston-gorham-continued/btjqdgysmafwcpljayyjceywnmhmycce_wma-gateway008_1685304735808 2]
| date = Apr 3, 1959
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-thurston-gorham-awarded/kzztcliqweojdnmyyvhgoyvflgylwakq_wma-gateway012_1685304676765
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} amid the chaos of the Great Depression. There, she graduated from Sumner High School in 1931.{{cite web
| title = Thelma T Gorham Collection
| url = https://tcc.fl.libguides.com/c.php?g=322585&p=2159123
| website = TCC Riley Museum Archive
| date = Sep 15, 2022
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}} The school was severely overcrowded.{{cite web
| title = Sumner Academy of Arts and Sciences |author1=David Sachs |author2=George Erlich
| url = https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/KS-01-209-0064
| website = Society of Architectural Historian
| date = 1996
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023}} A Sumner High English teacher inspired Thurston, Scottie P. Davis, to write about the good news of the black community and not just criminals.{{cite news
| title = Miss Scottie P. Davis…
| newspaper = The Kansas City American |via=Newspapers.com
| location = Kansas City, Missouri/
| page = 4
| date = Dec 31, 1931
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126257743/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
College and career
Having been inspired and, with family aid, able to attend college, Thurston sought but was denied attending the University of Missouri because she was black. She considered the University of Kansas but chose not to because they practiced race segregation on campus. Instead, she became the first black student in journalism at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis.
In her first year of college in 1931, Thelma was invited to join Sigma Epsilon Sigma academic sorority on campus,{{cite news
| title = Scholastic Sorority invites 87 freshmen - Sigma Epsilon Sigma plans annual dinner
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily |via=University of Minnesota
| location = Minneapolis, MN
| pages = 1,2
| date = November 24, 1931
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/233734
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} though at some point she was asked to leave.{{cite news
| title = Thelma Gorham is quiet black leader |author=Beth Barber
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat |via=Newspapers.com
| location =Tallahassee, FL
| pages = 49, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/125428415/ 53]
| date = Feb 8, 1976
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125428267/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} In early 1932, Thurston spoke at a bi-racial YMCA/YWCA group on the topic of James Weldon Johnson's God's Trombones, a collection of Negro sermons.{{cite news
| title = Bi-Racial Group will meet at Shevlin Today
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily
| location = Minneapolis, MN
| pages = 1
| date = February 18, 1932
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/233777
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In the fall, Thurston was on a YWCA service program committee running the social hour at a settlement house.{{cite news
| title = Coeds asked to aide in social services - YWCA issues request for settlement workers
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily |via=University of Minnesota
| location = University of Minnesota at Minneapolis
| page = 8
| date = October 28, 1932
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/233862
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Opening 1933, she gave a talk for the Cameo Social Club.{{cite news
| title = Sunday, January 8th…
| newspaper = Twin-City Herald |via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Minneapolis, Minnesota
| page = 4
| date = Jan 14, 1933
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-thurston-talk/bbkbtbtofivmshymhjlewnivdidyoxyz_wma-gateway012_1687608107066
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} That summer, after finishing two years at college, Thelma was among the 200 named to the Campus Sister group,{{cite news
| title = Gardner Appoints Advisory Council for Frosh(sic) Week
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily |via=University of Minnesota
| location = University of Minnesota at Minneapolis
| pages = 1,3
| date = June 6, 1933
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/233983
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} was visible back in Kansas City,{{cite news
| title = Kansas City Society; Charles Green Host to visitor in City
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 7
| date = Sep 22, 1933
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-rea-thurston-reception/dwpevnqpngtkzdvxvsggegimvugzfhgl_wma-gateway012_1687522893823
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and published a poem in a local newspaper in Kansas City.{{cite news
| title = The Basic Vent; Four Cinquains |author= Thelma Rea Thurston
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 7
| date = Nov 24, 1933
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-rea-thurston-poetry/ccxouylrseelczmnsgyppivmguxnqwwd_wma-gateway001_1687523192967
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} She also returned to Kansas City in the summer of 1934,{{cite news
| title = We met sholarly Miss…
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 4
| date = Jul 20, 1934
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-rea-thurston-visiting/fchqtbtrqgbqsicfichdsxnkucmabqrh_wma-gateway004_1687523580583
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and was announced as one of twelve who joined another honorary journalism sorority.{{cite news
| title = Honorary Scholastic Sorority Issues Invitations to Banquet; Members of the Theta Sigma Phi…
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily|via=University of Minnesota
| location = University of Minnesota at Minneapolis
| page = 3
| date = December 1, 1934
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/234346
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
In her senior year, Thurston was among the YWCA student committee that sponsored James Weldon Johnson speaking at a YWCA luncheon while in town to address the state legislature on an anti-lynching bill.{{cite news
| title = Negro Writer to talk today at Convocation
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily|via=University of Minnesota
| location = University of Minnesota at Minneapolis
| page = 1
| date = January 31, 1935
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/234374
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Thurston reported on his appearance for The Minneapolis Spokesman.{{cite news
| title = Weldon Johnson urges Minnesota Anti-Lynching Law |author=Thelma Rae Thurston
| newspaper = Minneapolis Spokesman|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Minneapolis, Minnesota
| pages = 3(1), [https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-rae-thurston-covers-james-weldon-johnson-convocation-address-ii/uewcfievtonezevidhtlbtbfhgkbjaxz_wma-gateway001_1687523949866 4(2)]
| date = Feb 8, 1935
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-rae-thurston-covers-james-weldon-johnson-convocation-address-i/ltiasffckwywriezlonfnicvdqpifhgl_wma-gateway005_1687523731574
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} She was also on the Theta Sigma Phi honorary journalism sorority committee for the next round of pledge invitations,{{cite news
| title = Purpose: 'To chat and nibble instead of scribble'
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily|via=University of Minnesota
| location = University of Minnesota at Minneapolis
| page = 3
| date = May 23, 1935
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/234438
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and presided at the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority meeting, though her talk was called "sketchy" in a newspaper article.{{cite news
| title = Sorority hears Social Worker
| newspaper = Minneapolis Spokesman |via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Minneapolis, Minnesota
| page = 2
| date = Feb 15, 1935
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-rea-thurston-talk-alpha-kappa-alpha-called-sketchy/lmyqhlilnbifijijgaufpsiovjwqbwla_wma-gateway003_1687524118907
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} Despite the evaluation, she was mentioned again in coverage of Alpha Kappa Alpha events in May.{{cite news
| title = AKA's annual affair to have French motif
| newspaper = Minneapolis Spokesman|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Minneapolis, Minnesota
| page = 2
| date = May 10, 1935
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-rea-thurston-aka-events-publicity/noptewbysruodrobwhjohrczieyjjihn_wma-gateway016_1687524427568
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
With the majority of the Great Depression past, Thurston graduated in the spring of 1935 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis,{{cite book
| title =Seeking Equity for Women in Journalism and Mass Communication Education: A 30-year Update |editor1= Ramona R. Rush |editor2= Carol E. Oukrop |editor3= Pamela J. Creedon |chapter=The role of minority women in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication from 1968 to 2001 |author=Lionel C. Barrow Jr
| publisher = Taylor & Francis
| edition = reprint
| date = Apr 3, 2013 |orig-date=2004
| pages =
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UyVC_17jWAcC |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UyVC_17jWAcC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PT79&pg=PT73
| doi = 10.4324/9781410610799-4
| isbn = 9781135623999}}
| last = Snorgrass
| first = William
| title = Pioneer Black Women Journalists from the 1850s to the 1950s
| journal = The Western Journal of Black Studies
| volume = 6
| issue = 3
| pages = 155
| publisher = Proquest
| location = Pullman, WA
| date = 1982
| url = https://www.proquest.com/openview/7c67762849e83205a1a4202114fb1bce/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1821483
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} while living in St. Paul.{{cite news
| title = St. Paul Society News; Due to an oversight,… |author= Mary A. Jones
| newspaper = Minneapolis Spokesman |via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Minneapolis, Minnesota
| page = 4
| date = Jun 21, 1935
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-rea-thurston-graduates-ba-living-148-fenton-st/hejcvqiypzxmuhkmywggzmgknuilypps_wma-gateway006_1687524744240
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} She was one of three black women in the entire graduating class in 1935. However, an instructor for a central class of her program failed to set up a newspaper internship for her as was customary for all students.
Rising journalist and academic
=''The Call''=
After graduating, Thurston's first placement was doing various jobs for the African-American Kansas City Call. She was visible there by October,{{cite news
| title = Many Grads get Journalism Jobs
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily |via=University of Minnesota
| location = University of Minnesota at Minneapolis
| page = 2
| date = October 4, 1935
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/234450
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} registering in the US Decadal Census as living in Kansas City, Missouri, since at least 1935, and employed as a reporter. She soon worked as a reporter covering the police for The Call.For more on the Kansas City Call, see: {{cite magazine
| title = KC Is Home To One Of The Oldest And Most Respected Black Newspapers In America
| magazine = Kansas City Magazine
| location = Kansas City
| date = April 4, 2019
| url = https://kansascitymag.com/uncategorized/kc-is-home-to-one-of-the-oldest-and-most-respected-black-newspapers-in-america/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} She was also visible socially in Kansas City.{{cite news
| title = Scenes hereabouts
| newspaper =Plaindealer |via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 5
| date = Nov 29, 1935
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-rae-thurston-visible-event/qlusomezgxrzbgvmbozinzniixykhglx_wma-gateway001_1687525187073
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}
By 1938, she was an editor for The Call and its chief feature writer. That year, Thurston also directed the Moravian Club Fashion Parade.* {{cite news
| title = Start plans for 1938 fashion revue
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 5
| date = Feb 18, 1938
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-rea-thurston-directs-moravian-club-fashion-parade/yvcajrqkkhmhxbwowvawtykkeowcvopf_wma-gateway020_1687525442842
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Monravians present fashion revue
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 8
| date = Apr 15, 1938
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-rea-thurston-directs-moravian-club-fashion-parade/gnfhkjdclcesruhxtlfftcetjtnkywlp_wma-gateway018_1687525610988
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{Citation
| title =The Monrovian Club Fourth Annual Fashion Show Booklet
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = April 8, 1938
| year = 2024
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/10903}} In early 1939, Thurston was a speaker at an Adult Education meeting while running for school board office,{{cite news
| title = Group hears Thelma Thurston
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 8
| date = Mar 31, 1939
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-rea-thurston-speaker-adult-education-group/tqttjakkhkjhdjpjpdgraqxqojrdvmnr_wma-gateway017_1687525835291
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} though she lost the race.* {{cite news
| title = Voters to the Polls Tuesday; Two Race Candidates on ticket; Negro vote may decide election in some cases
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 1
| date = Mar 31, 1939
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-thurston-looses-school-board-race/afyfzhdcvbfjkjcdwpzoiryrhjxrjwqw_wma-gateway011_1687526221946
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Negroes divide vote to elect a city commissioner
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 1
| date = Apr 7, 1939
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-thurston-got-votes/hbuhznizxqfeorlbswqznxuxueocjecb_wma-gateway015_1687526800909
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Decades later, she said, "I couldn't trust my own people.… African-American men tried to knife me."{{cite news
| title = A woman of many firsts, pioneer journalists isn't finished yet |author= Lauren V. Lustig
| newspaper = Florida Flambeau|via=Archive.org
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| pages = 1,7
| date = Oct 24, 1991
| url = https://archive.org/details/Florida_Flambeau_1991_Oct/page/n249/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} During the electioneering, Thurston was also director of the Monrovian Club Fishing Show.* {{cite news
| title = Spirit of Old Mexico to be theme of Monravian's Show on March 31st
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 5
| date = Mar 24, 1939
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-thurston-director-show/lzlljkxgnviblplbilnidcwiiqecsxin_wma-gateway015_1687608302404
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Monravian Club's fashion show tonight at Memorial Hall
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 5
| date = Mar 31, 1939
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-thurston-director-monrovian-club-fishing-show/tuzeholywvlygvpwqkhmbxxjqnuhjjty_wma-gateway008_1687526398000
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} That summer, Thurston heard Mary McLeod Bethune speak at a club meeting in town.{{cite news
| title = Kansas Club Women talk with Mrs. Bethune
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 5
| date = May 12, 1939
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-thurston-hears-mrs-bethune/fjvklqufbbupbknbprtbvxwdiqvvtjiq_wma-gateway005_1687527164098
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} In the fall, Thurston was among those given a tour of a new hospital wing built to serve African Americans, albeit segregated.{{cite news
| title = Complete separate unit for Negroes nears completion
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 1
| date = Nov 3, 1939
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-thurston-among-tour/eggarprnscbhjsiifturijxudraxdalj_wma-gateway016_1687608527016
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} That year, an organization was formed to aid the wing.{{cite news
| title = K C Women perfect Civic Organization
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 1
| date = Nov 10, 1939
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-thurston-officer-kc-women-org/depjuiqxlulgxvajgtqgguorbmwrfjaf_wma-gateway013_1687608811210
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} The year closed with a mention of Thurston at the Republican State Convention,{{cite news
| title = E. Shannon is Wyandotte County young GOP head
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 1
| date = Dec 22, 1939
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-thurston-gop-convention/nvconvnjqmjximuroglbkvdblhxvilel_wma-gateway002_1687527380588
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} even though, by 1936, most African Americans had switched political parties.{{cite web
| title = The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom
| url = https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/segregation-era.html
| website = Library of Congress
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
In 1940 she was still working with The Call,{{cite news
| title = TypoVision |author= Elizabeth Galbreath
| newspaper = The Chicago Defender, (National edition)
| location = Chicago, IL
| pages = 17-18
| date =Dec 19, 1942
| url =
| access-date =}} and the US Census had her living with her mother. That October, Thurston was mentioned as a member of the NAACP board, listed as representing The Call, and the board joined in protest about the lack of African Americans on the announced Draft Board amid the rising war tensions.{{cite news
| title = Commissioners fail to name Negros on Draft Board |author= R. B. Brown
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 1
| date = Oct 4, 1940
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-thurston-naacp-protest/uktznptpmicracgvpwvjnnhvbgfyewzd_wma-gateway017_1687527733385
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
Thurston heard of the Bahá'í Faith about this time, though no further details are known. That winter, Thurston gave a talk to the Sumner High School assembly.{{cite news
| title = Local School News; Sumner High
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 5
| date = Feb 28, 1941
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-thurston-talk-sumner-hs/oqhiusabisvnzsnxtsvgkdiiqqewfwge_wma-gateway018_1687528082155
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Though some sources say she married Richard Gorham in 1939, many sources detail her marriage on August 20, 1941.{{cite news
| title = Requisites for wife of a man in service |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Pittsburgh Courier|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| page = 10
| date = Jan 2, 1943
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125391731/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} Her marriage was announced,{{cite news
| title = Thelma Thurston to Marry
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Minneapolis, Minnesota
| page = 1
| date = Aug 29, 1941
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126953738/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and her parents returned from the marriage of their daughter in September.{{cite news
| title = Mr. and Mrs. Frank Thurston…
| newspaper = Minneapolis Spokesman|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Minneapolis, Minnesota
| page = 3
| date = Sep 12, 1941
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/returned-marriage-daughter-later-bahai-thelma-rea-thurston/hzpxmhlkmyouezlhazzwckrkvfurwbab_wma-gateway004_1687606201757
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
By 1941, she was the bureau news editor and feature writer for The Call, and had served there for six years as a writer.{{cite news
| title = Visits parents
| newspaper = The Omaha Star|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Omaha, Nebraska
| page = 1
| date = Jan 15, 1943
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125445635/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
=Hampton Institute=
In November 1941, Thurston started working with the HBCU Hampton Institute(today a University) in Virginia.* {{cite news
| title = Staff Members named at Hampton
| newspaper =Richmond Times Dispatch |via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Richmond, Virginia
| page = 8
| date = Nov 19, 1941
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-thelma-thurston-gorham/kqazvdoxnhdhyxjsfibjxhwqrwwzzwlk_wma-gateway015_1687606366338
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Hampton Names Four to Staff
| newspaper = The Pittsburgh Courier|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| page = 24
| date = Nov 22, 1941
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126951666/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} By March, Gorham had resigned,{{cite news
| title = Hamptonn Cuts Budget Drops 7 Staff Members
| newspaper = The Afro-American
| location = Baltimore, MD
| page = 8
| date = Mar 28, 1942
| url =https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-afro-american-later-bahai-thelma-th/159802087/
| access-date =Dec 12, 2024 }} and then with the Attack on Pearl Harbor, her husband had been drafted.{{cite news
| title = Gives Up Job
| newspaper = Jackson Advocate|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Jackson, Mississippi
| page = 5
| date = Jun 6, 1942
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126951601/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} An article of hers was published in the African-American newspaper, The Pittsburgh Courier, which also called her a "recent bride",{{cite news
| title = Revenge Isn't Sweet|author= Thelma Rae Thurston
| newspaper = The Pittsburgh Courier|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| page = 13
| date = Dec 13, 1941
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126951634/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and another article was published in April in The Jackson Advocate of Jackson, Mississippi.{{cite news
| title = News of Theatres; Deep River Boys Tell Their Story |author=Thelma Rea Thurston
| newspaper = Jackson Advocate |via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Jackson, Mississippi
| page = 8
| date = Apr 25, 1942
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/article-later-bahai-thelma-rea-thurston/fskrikgralpuppcfkqwgczzxmraivmtx_wma-gateway001_1687606494140
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
She also began to cherish a dream of visiting Africa: "…. Since the early 1940's Ghana has been the focus of my African dream.…. Perhaps the answer goes back to 1941 when I was working as assistant director of public relations at Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia. One of my self-initiated, extracurricular tasks was the organization of a Foreign Students Association.… The courtesy, and even courtliness, of the young men in the association was a refreshing contrast to the manners of the American-born students. And to listen to the students talk about their goals for their homelands and their countrymen was sheer joy to me.… it was the students from the Gold Coast with whom some of my closest associations developed.”{{cite news
| title = An American Negro explains why she is going to Ghana |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily: Ivory Tower Edition
| location = Minneapolis, MN|via=University of Minnesota
| pages = 8-9, 13
| date = January 16, 1961
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/240513
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
By the summer of 1942 husband Richard was initially stationed at Camp Funston in Kansas. She gave up her Hampton Institute position, briefly working with The Omaha Star, moved with her husband to Fort McClellan, Alabama, where Gorham stayed in Anniston. But within the year, he was transferred again, this time to Fort Huachuca in south Arizona, where he was a sergeant in communications. Wherever she went, she got jobs and thrived in journalism.
=''The Apache Sentinel''=
June 1942 opens with a set of Gorham's poems were published in The Pittsburgh Courier{{cite news
| title = Courier Verse |author= Thelma Rae Thurston
| newspaper = The Pittsburgh Courier|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| page = 11
| date = Jun 27, 1942
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126951582/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and the Baltimore Afro-American.{{cite news
| last = Thurston
| first = Thelma Rae
| title = Army Hospital gets New Personnel Head
| newspaper = The Afro-American
| location = Baltimore, MD
| page = 5
| date = Aug 1, 1942
| url =https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-afro-american-by-later-bahai-thelma/159802182/
| access-date =Dec 12, 2024 }} Already described as having a column on advice for wives of servicemen, formerly of the Kansas City Call and teacher at the Hampton Institute, by January 1943, she had published another article with The Courier,{{cite news
| title = TypoVision |author= Elizabeth Galbreath
| newspaper = The Chicago Defender, (National edition)
| location = Chicago, IL
| pages = 17-18
| date = Dec 19, 1942
| url =
| access-date =}} but also one in The Chicago Defender,{{cite news
| title = Give Points On Visits To Soldiers |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Chicago Defender (National edition)
| location = Chicago, IL
| page = 16
| date = Feb 27, 1943
| url =
| access-date =}} and The Crisis’,* {{cite magazine
| title = Negro Army Wives |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| magazine = The Crisis |via=Archive.org
| editor=Roy Wilkins
| location =
| pages = 41-2
| date = Jan 1943 |volume=50 |number=1
| url = https://archive.org/details/sim_crisis_1943-01_50_1/page/21/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and another at the Afro-American,{{cite news
| last = Gorham
| first = Thelma Thurston
| title = "Surprises" just Headaches for Soldiers Hosts at Camps
| newspaper = The Afro-American
| location = Baltimore, MD
| page = 13
| date = Feb 20, 1943
| url =https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-afro-american-by-later-bahai-thelma/159801886/
| access-date = Dec 12, 2024}} all focused on life at the Fort. Fort Huachuca housed the largest single group of African Americans in the Army.* {{cite book
| last = Gorham
| first = Thelma Thurston
| title = Bitter fruit: African American women in World War II |editor= Maureen Honey|chapter=Negro Army Wives (reprinted from The Crisis, January 1943)
| publisher = University of Missouri Press
| date = 1999
| location =
| pages = 186-190
| url = https://archive.org/details/bitterfruitafric00unse/ |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/bitterfruitafric00unse/page/186/mode/1up
| isbn = 0826212425}}
- {{cite book
| last = Jefferson
| first = Robert F.
| title =Fighting for Hope: African American Troops of the 93rd Infantry Division in World War II and Postwar America |chapter=Service Families on the Move
| publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press
| date = Nov 24, 2008
| location =
| pages = 93–8
| url = https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/oa_monograph/chapter/308216/pdf
| doi = 10.1353/book.3504
| isbn = 9780801888281}} Gorham's unfinished plywood shack for a home while stationed at Fort Huachuca was shared with eleven couples, each room of which was about seven feet square with only two army cots, and everyone shared two sinks for every need, and there were no facilities for cooking.{{cite encyclopedia
| last = Weatherford
| first =Doris
| title = American Women During World War II: An Encyclopedia |chapter=Landladies
| pages = 258
| publisher = Routledge Press |location=New York |isbn= 0203870662
| date = 2010
| url =https://archive.org/details/an-encyclopedia-of-american-women-during-world-war-ii-2010/ |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/an-encyclopedia-of-american-women-during-world-war-ii-2010/page/258/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023}}
The Gorham family visited his father's family in Omaha in the winter of 1942-3, and then she was hired for The Apache Sentinel before July 1943.{{cite news
| title = The Apache Sentinel
| newspaper = The Apache Sentinel|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Fort Huachuca, Arizona
| page = 4
| date = Jul 16, 1943
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125392240/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Captain David A. Lane had given management of The Sentinel to Gorham, ultimately with the title Technical Advisor, and had been on an overseas assignment in January 1944.{{cite news
| title = Sentinel to…, (continued)
| newspaper = The Apache Sentinel|via=ChroniclingAmerica.loc.gov
| location = Fort Huachuca, Arizona
| page = 2
| date = September 15, 1944
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn95060813/1944-09-15/ed-1/seq-2/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}{{cite news
| title = Personable Clerk at Civ. Pers. has been here for 25 years
| newspaper = The Apache Sentinel|via=ChroniclingAmerica.loc.gov
| location = Fort Huachuca, Arizona
| page = 5
| date = December 22, 1944
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn95060813/1944-12-22/ed-1/seq-5/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Amidst her new responsibilities, she also spoke at a Palo Alto High invitational assembly in February, invited by a social problems class.* {{cite news
| title = Sequanile comes out tomorrow - Palo Alto High and Sequoia putting out a joint newspaper |author=Frank Grandfield
| newspaper = The Peninsula Times Tribune|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Palo Alto, California
| page = 8
| date = Feb 15, 1945
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135408133/
| access-date =Nov 18, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Negro's gifts to civilization emphasized
| newspaper = The Peninsula Times Tribune|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Palo Alto, California
| page = 6
| date = Feb 15, 1945
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135408559/
| access-date =Nov 18, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Junior Museum shows posters for Negro Week |author= Mary Katherine Hays
| newspaper = The Peninsula Times Tribune|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Palo Alto, California
| page = 5
| date = Feb 16, 1945
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135408734/
| access-date =Nov 18, 2023 }} Her job as editor at The Apache Sentinel remained substantially the same, despite titles, save for two army orders - one that no civilian could be the editor of a post newspaper "so she was designated associate editor" and then that no civilian could write an editorial, so she became a "technical adviser" who could, and someone else became the official editor.{{cite news
| title = Post's Editor a Negro Girl
| newspaper = The Christian Science Monitor|via=Archive.org
| location =
| page = 8
| date = Jul 2, 1945
| url = https://archive.org/details/per_christian-science-monitor_1945-07-02_37_184/page/n7/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} However, she functionally became the only woman editor of an official army newspaper in the country. She was pictured in July 1944 in the newspaper and described as hard at work 24 hours a day with two core staff military personnel working under her.{{cite news
| title = Apache Sentinel Task Force
| newspaper = The Apache Sentinel|via= ChroniclingAmerica.loc.gov
| location = Fort Huachuca, Arizona
| page = 3
| date = July 28, 1944
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn95060813/1944-07-28/ed-1/seq-3/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Gorham was also hospitalized in September.{{cite news
| title = Notes from Bonnie Blink
| newspaper = The Apache Sentinel|via= ChroniclingAmerica.loc.gov
| location = Fort Huachuca, Arizona
| page = 7
| date = September 1, 1944
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn95060813/1944-09-01/ed-1/seq-7/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
A later writer said: "it was more a driving sense of personal accomplishment that compelled [her] to pursue a career, rather than militancy of feminism." But Gorham's editorship of the Apache Sentinel was commented upon by Carlotta Bass, editor-publisher of The California Eagle: "The most radical changes in Negro journalism came about during World War II.… for the first time in history a Negro woman was editor of an Army newspaper…."{{cite conference
| last = Bass
| first = Charlotta
| title = The Negro and Minority Press
| book-title = Thought Control in the USA |editor=Harold J. Salemson
| page = 94
| publisher = Garland Publishing
| date = 1977|orig-date=1947
| location = Beverly Hill, CA
| url = https://archive.org/details/thoughtcontrolin0000conf/page/94/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} She served 22 months as editor of The Special Services Bulletin and The Apache Sentinel, official publications of the Armed Forces Special Services Division Service Command Unit 1922. She also served as publicity assistant to the Post Public Relations Officer at the Fort. She finished the period writing articles published in Tulsa for The Oklahoma Eagle.* {{cite news
| title = Capt. Joe Hordan to conduct symphony |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKhistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 2
| date = August 28, 1943
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804099/m1/2/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Ft. Hauschuca major tropical disease specialist |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKhistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 5
| date = January 1, 1944
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804117/m1/5/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
=''The Crisis'' and the Labor School=
With the War ending, Richard was discharged in October 1944, and the Gorhams were visible visiting Los Angeles.{{cite news
| title = Mr. and Mrs. Gorham, Jr., houseguests of the Evanses
| newspaper = The Pittsburgh Courier|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| page = 10
| date = Oct 28, 1944
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126953806/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} She represented a number of Negro weekly newspapers, including the Afro-American,* {{cite news
| last = Gorham
| first = Thelma Thurston
| title = Katherine Dunham's Cocktailer Among Swank Conference Socials Thelma Swank Conference Socials
| newspaper = The Afro-American
| location = Baltimore, MD
| page = 12
| date = Jun 16, 1945
| url =https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-afro-american-by-later-bahai-thelma/159801947/
| access-date = Dec 12, 2024 }}
- {{cite news
| last = Gorham
| first = Thelma T.
| title = UNCIO Roundup
| newspaper = The Afro-American
| location = Baltimore, MD
| page = 11
| date = Jun 30, 1945
| url =https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-afro-american-by-later-bahai-thelma/159802826/
| access-date =Dec 12, 2024 }}
- {{cite news
| last = Graham(sic)
| first = Thelma T.
| title = United Conference Colorful Parade - Thelma Gorham
| newspaper = The Afro-American
| location = Baltimore, MD
| pages = 15
| date = Jun 2, 1945
| url =https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-afro-american-by-later-bahai-thelma/159802767/
| access-date =Dec 12, 2024 }} as an accredited correspondent during the United Nations Conference on International Organization held in San Francisco from April to June 1945. The winter of 1945-1946 Gorham did a brief stint as managing editor of The Crisis, official organ of the NAACP, starting while living in San Francisco but briefly moved to the national headquarters in the Wendell Willkie building, New York City.* (still living in San Francisco area) {{cite magazine
| title = Negroes and Japanese Evacuees |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| magazine = The Crisis |via=Archive.org
| editor=Roy Wilkins |volume=52 |number=11
| location =
| pages = 312, 314-6, 330-1
| date = Nov 1945
| url = https://archive.org/details/sim_crisis_1945-11_52_11/page/314/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite magazine
| title = Book Reviews; For Young Readers |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| magazine = The Crisis |via=Archive.org
| editor= Roy Wilkins |volume=53 |number=1
| location =
| pages = 23-4
| date = Jan 1946
| url = https://archive.org/details/sim_crisis_1946-01_53_1/page/23/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- (had been an assistant editor of The Crisis but moved to Berkeley,) {{cite magazine
| title =It's Never too Early: a Trilogy |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| magazine = The Crisis |via=Archive.org
| editor=Roy Wilkins |volume=53 |number=3
| location =
| pages = 67,82-3, 92
| date = Mar 1946
| url = https://archive.org/details/sim_crisis_1946-03_53_3/page/n17/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Her final piece for The Crisis was the short story "It's Never Too Early: A Trilogy" in March, also republished in 2011.{{cite book
| editor=Judith Musser
| title ="Girl, colored" and other stories: a complete short fiction anthology of African American women writers in The Crisis magazine, 1910-2010 |chapter=It's Never too Early: a Trilogy |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| publisher = McFarland & Co., Inc.
| date = 2011
| pages = 13, 443–7
| url = https://archive.org/details/girlcoloredother0000unse/page/443/mode/1up
| isbn = 9780786446063}}{{registration required}} And Gorham published a book “Aquarina” for black children through the University of Minnesota back in January 1946.{{cite news
| title = Young Writers' books add to Murphy Hall's Collection
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily|via=Conservancy.umn.edu
| location = University of Minnesota at Minneapolis
| page = 7
| date = January 9, 1946
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/236084
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
In the academic year of 1946-7, Gorham was an instructor with the California Labor School.{{cite conference
| title = California Labor School; Trojan Horse Camouflage,
| book-title = 3rd Report; UnAmerican Activities in California, 1947
| pages = 77,88-9
| publisher = 1947 California Joint Fact-Finding Committee on UnAmerican Activities Report
| date = 1947
| location = Sacramento, CA
| url = https://archive.org/details/1947CalifJointFactFindingCcommitteeUnAmericanActivitiesReport416pp/page/n98/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In between, she was occasionally also a teacher at the Hampton Institute across 1944-1947. She also served as part-time publicity director of the NAACP West Coast Regional Office in San Francisco, and editor of the Alpha Kappa Alpha official publication, The Ivy Leaf.{{cite news
| title = National AKA Offices go to three L. A. Chapter members
| newspaper = California Eagle|via=Archive.org
| location = Los Angeles, CA
| page = 10
| date = Aug 15, 1946
| url = https://archive.org/details/la_caleagle_reel30/page/n321/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} She had gained that position during their conference in Cleveland on world peace.* {{cite news
| title = Building World Peace Theme of AKA Boule in Cleveland, Ohio
| newspaper = California Eagle|via=Archive.org
| location = Los Angeles, CA
| page = 16
| date = Aug 28, 1947
| url = https://archive.org/details/la_caleagle_reel31/page/n590/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Baltimorean elected new head of AKA Sorority
| newspaper = The Daily Bulletin|via=ChroniclingAmerica.loc.gov
| location = Dayton, Ohio
| page = 1
| date = August 23, 1946
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024221/1946-08-23/ed-1/seq-1/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} She was editor-in-chief of the publication from 1946 to 1949.* {{cite news
| title = Baltimorean elected new head of AKA's
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 1
| date = August 24, 1946
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804242/m1/1/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = A. K A. Boule makes revolutionary change; race bars dropped completely
| newspaper = Minneapolis Spokesman|via=ChroniclingAmerica.loc.gov
| location = Minneapolis, MN
| page = 1
| date = August 23, 1946
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025247/1946-08-23/ed-1/seq-1/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} She was also a freelance writer and publicist in the Northern California Bay Area, residing in Berkeley, when not in New York. With her husband, she operated Gorham Enterprises, a photography, public relations, and publicity agency in Oakland, but her opportunities crossed the country.
=Lincoln University and University Minnesota at Minneapolis=
Gorham started with the HBCU Lincoln University, Missouri, as Assistant Professor of the School of Journalism for the fall 1947-1948 school year.{{cite news
| title = Three L. A. teachers take Lincoln University Post
| newspaper = California Eagle|via=Archive.org
| location = Los Angeles, CA
| page = 9
| date = Sep 18, 1947
| url = https://archive.org/details/la_caleagle_reel31/page/n655/mode/1up
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} She also noted as a patron supporter of the football program for the Lincoln vs. Tennessee State homecoming game from Lincoln U. in 1947.{{cite web
| title = Patrons, Homecoming Lincoln C vs Tenn. State, Souvenir Program
| url = https://bluetigercommons.lincolnu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1009&context=homecoming
| website = Lincoln U.
| date = 1947
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} She would teach here for four years, 1947-1951. In late June 1948, she rejoined her husband in California, traveling from Lincoln University to the Berkley area, and, this time, pursued graduate studies at Stanford University for the summer.{{cite news
| title = Mrs. R. R. Gorham returns here
| newspaper = The Berkeley Gazette|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Berkeley, California
| page = 5
| date = Jun 22, 1948
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135409491/
| access-date =Nov 18, 2023}} She recorded some graduate-level coursework in the summer of 1948 at Stanford University.{{Citation
| title =Stanford University Application for Admission with Graduate Standing
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = April 9, 1959
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6967}} She also worked as a freelance writer and edited Building a Better State, the monthly organ of the Missouri Association of Social Welfare. The couple had a son named Darryl Theodore Thurston, born September in Minnesota.{{cite web
| title = Darryl Theodore Gorham Vital • Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002
| url = https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VC27-ZX9
| website = FamilySearch.org
| date = Sep 11, 1948
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}{{registration required}}
In March 1949, Gorham opened the Journalism Forum at the Lincoln University conference,{{cite news
| title = Lincoln University Journalism Forum
| newspaper = California Eagle |via=Archive.org
| location = Los Angeles, CA
| page = 9
| date = Mar 10, 1949
| url = https://archive.org/details/la_caleagle_reel34/page/n261/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and in the summer worked at the University of Minnesota on her Masters Degree in Journalism while still an instructor at Lincoln University; she had sisters and her father living in Minneapolis,{{cite news
| title = Thelma Thurston Gorham, Lincoln Instructor, here
| newspaper = Minneapolis Spokesman|via=ChroniclingAmerica.lov.gov
| location =
| page = 1
| date = June 24, 1949
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025247/1949-06-24/ed-1/seq-1/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} was still visible at social appearances in St. Paul,{{cite news
| title = Nelson Peery speaks on Communism to group
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder |via=ChroniclingAmerica.loc.gov
| location = St. Paul, MN
| page = 5
| date = July 29, 1949
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016804/1949-07-29/ed-1/seq-5/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and was visited by her husband there too.{{cite news
| title = Social & Personal; St. Paul; Richard Gorham, Jefferson City…
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder|via=ChroniclingAmerica.loc.gov
| location = St. Paul, MN
| page = 3
| date = August 19, 1949
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016804/1949-08-19/ed-1/seq-3/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
In the 1950-51 school year, she helped organize the Foreign Students Association at Lincoln University.{{cite book
| last = Parks
| first = Arnold G.
| title =Lincoln University: 1920-1970 |chapter=“The Foreign Students Association…”
| publisher = Arcadia Publishing
| date = Sep 18, 2012
| location = Charleston, SC
| page = 55
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3u5yKri-E_4C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PT55&pg=PT55
| isbn = 9781439618929}} In May, she visited her husband's parents in Omaha, Nebraska, and spending time surveying African American newspapers.{{cite news
| last = Hayes
| first = G. Aneita
| title = Doings about Omaha
| newspaper = California Eagle|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Los Angeles, California
| pages = 30
| date = May 11, 1950
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135409783/
| access-date = Nov 18, 2023}} Her next summer in Minnesota she is listed as a member of St. James AME Church in St. Paul, (where her aunt was also a member,){{cite news
| title = Mrs Alice Mayes Peters
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Minneapolis, Minnesota
| page = 4
| date = Aug 1, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434988/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} and speaker at the Women’s Day meeting of the church.* {{cite news
| title = St. James AME Church
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder |via=ChroniclingAmerica.lov.gov
| location = St. Paul, MN
| page = 2
| date = August 11, 1950
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016804/1950-08-11/ed-1/seq-2/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Journalism Instructor to be St. James' Women's Day Speaker
| newspaper = Minneapolis Spokesman|via=ChroniclingAmerica.lov.gov
| location =
| page = 1
| date = August 18, 1950
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025247/1950-08-18/ed-1/seq-1/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Later that year, her Master's thesis was previewed as a book Negro Newsmen and Practices of Pressure Groups in the Middle West,* {{cite book
| last = Gorham
| first = Thelma Thurston
| title = Negro Newsmen and Practices of Pressure Groups in the Middle West
| publisher =University of Minnesota
| date = 1950
| location = Minneapolis, MN
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=D-LGNwAACAAJ}} which was republished in 1952 after her degree was finished.* {{cite journal
| last = Gorham
| first = Thelma Thurston
| title = Negro Newsmen and Practices of Pressure Groups in the Middle West
| journal = The Journal of Negro Education
| volume = 21
| issue = 4
| pages = 459–68
| date = 1952
| doi = 10.2307/2293810
| access-date =}} (while director of Gorham Enterprises)
She graduated in 1951 with a Masters of Arts in journalism from the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis.{{cite news
| title = Graduate School Master of Arts; Other States
| newspaper = Star Tribune|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Minneapolis, Minnesota
| page = 28
| date = Jun 17, 1951
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135433771/
| access-date = Nov 19, 2023}} Her thesis reviewed "social and professional characteristics of newsmen working on seven Negro weeklies in four midwestern metropolitan centers - Chicago, St. Louis, Greater Kansas City, and Omaha" including interviews and a survey of opinions and attitudes.{{cite news
| title = Gets MA Degree at Minnesota U.
| newspaper = The Call|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Kansas City, Missouri
| page = 5
| date = Jun 29, 1951
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135433794/
| access-date = Nov 19, 2023}} She also initiated her PhD work. That April, a poem by her, "Sunset down a country lane”, was published in a national teacher's journal.{{cite journal
| last = Gorham
| first = Thelma Thurston
| title = Our Teacher Poets
| journal = School and Community
| volume = 37
| issue = 4
| page = 183
| date = Apr 1951
| url = https://archive.org/details/sim_school-and-community_1951-04_37_4/page/183/mode/1up
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}
=St. Louis=
After graduating with her Masters' degree, a number of initiatives took place. First, in April 1951, she led some workshops at Lincoln University on preparing yearbooks.{{cite news
| title = 92 Workshoppers attend 3rd annual headliner week
| newspaper = The Lincoln Clarion|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Jefferson City, Missouri
| page = 1
| date = Apr 25, 1951
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135433553/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} While there she participated in a wedding shower of a faculty coworker,{{cite news
| title = Gala shower for Lincoln U. bride
| newspaper = The Pittsburgh Courier|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| page = 9
| date = May 5, 1951
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135433628/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} and a banquet for the university's Women's Association.{{cite news
| title = L. U. Women will have their day tomorrow
| newspaper = The Lincoln Clarion|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Jefferson City, Missouri
| page = 1
| date = May 16, 1951
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135433704/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} By that October she had a county position working with three YWCAs of St. Louis.* {{cite news
| title = Gets county YWCA post
| newspaper = St. Louis Post-Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 39
| date = Oct 17, 1951
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434008/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Mrs Gorham named county YW Director
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 2
| date = Oct 19, 1951
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434102/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Gorham gets YWCA post
| newspaper = The Lincoln Clarion|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Jefferson City, Missouri
| page = 1
| date = Nov 2, 1951
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434135/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} She was soon visible working at the job and community events.* {{cite news
| title = Meacham Park
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 16
| date = Feb 1, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434177/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Members of the YWCA…
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 8
| date = Feb 1, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434231/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Brotherhood Month to feature Negro History Week event
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 2
| date = Feb 15, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434270/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Brotherhood program held by Y-Teen Club
| newspaper = The News-Times|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Webster Groves, Missouri
| page = 6
| date = Feb 28, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434319/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Rev. W. M. Rowlen Brotherhood speaker
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 19
| date = Feb 29, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434347/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = St. Patricks' Tea observed at County YW
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 4
| date = Mar 21, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434387/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Meacham Park
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 16
| date = Mar 28, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434434/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = County YW hold lawn party for teens
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 6
| date = Jun 20, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434749/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Kinloch girls feted with Frappe sip
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 16
| date = Jun 27, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434801/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = County Teachers cooperate with TB unit
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 9
| date = Jul 18, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434895/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = P & I member feted with baby shower
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 8
| date = Jul 25, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434940/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} There were also some regional trips she participated in. She was a speaker to an interracial meeting in early May in the Venice-Lincoln, IL, area.{{cite news
| title = Venice-Lincoln teenagers honor parents
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 3
| date = May 9, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434466/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} She went to the Kansas City hosted regional conference of the National Council of Negro Women in later May.{{cite news
| title = Regional Conference of NCNW will convene in K. C., Kans.
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 8
| date = May 23, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434527/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} She was also profiled back in St. Louis, where she positively commented on a rising racial integration effort.{{cite news
| title = Our Home Town - Meet New St. Louisans; Welcome Mat…
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 8
| date = Jun 6, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135434619/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} In October, she was part of an unaffiliated support group to elect Howard Elliott,* {{cite news
| title = 'Citizens for Elliott' open independent vote drive
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 3
| date = Oct 17, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135435137/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Citizens rally to support independent group here
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 3
| date = Oct 24, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135435430/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Map plans to let Missourians know more of Elliott's Civil Rights Record
| newspaper = The Call|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Kansas City, Missouri
| page = 21
| date = Oct 24, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135435488/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Ask ministers for 'Civil Rights Day' sermons in support of Howard Elliott
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 3
| date = Oct 31, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135435565/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} and in meet candidate events,* {{cite news
| title = Top political leaders meet here on forum
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 2
| date = Oct 17, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135435360/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Val Washington and Congressman Dawson to speak on same platform in St. Louis
| newspaper = The Call|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Kansas City, Missouri
| page = 8
| date = Oct 31, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135435653/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} who lost to the incumbent Phil M. Donnelly.
That December 1952, she also got a newspaper article published through her Gorham Enterprises company,* {{cite news
| title = Foods For Your Fancy; Cranberries for Christmas, good eating on your menu! |author=Thelma T. Gorham
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 9
| date = Dec 19, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135435720/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Foods For Your Fancy. Served raw or cooked oysters for nutritious daily meals |author= Thelma T. Gorham
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 9
| date = Jan 2, 1953
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135435909/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} and published an editorial marking the changes of late 1952.{{cite news
| title = Our Home Town |author= Thelma T. Gorham
| newspaper = The St. Louis Argus|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 8
| date = Dec 26, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135435831/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} A new magazine Set-Up was initiated that spring of which Gorham was chief editor.* {{cite news
| title = Mrs. Thelma Thurston Gorham…
| newspaper = The Lincoln Clarion|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Jefferson City, Missouri
| page = 2
| date = Apr 24, 1953
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125422060/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite magazine
| title = Journalism; New Business Monthly Published in St. Louis|via=Archive.org
| magazine = JET
| page = 49
| date = Nov 26, 1953
| url = https://archive.org/details/sim_jet_1953-11-26_5_3/page/49/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Set-Up is published in St. Louis by Gorham Enterprises, Inc|via=Newspapers.com
| newspaper = Alabama Citizen
| location = Tuscaloosa, Alabama
| page = 8
| date = Nov 7, 1953
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125422256/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} While that effort unfolded, by October 1953, she was known to also work with a project named the Great Books Program in the St. Louis Missouri public library, assisting Charles H. Compton, some of which continued into 1955.* {{cite news
| title = Ex-LU teacher finishes Great Book course
| newspaper = The Lincoln Clarion|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Jefferson City, Missouri
| page = 1
| date = Oct 9, 1953
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125422224/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Applications still open for Great Books groups
| newspaper = St. Louis Post-Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = St. Louis, Missouri
| page = 83
| date = Oct 25, 1953
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135436354/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Black Dispatch names Mrs. Thelma Gorham new executive editor
| newspaper = Sooner State Press|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Norman, OK
| page = 4
| date = July 9, 1955
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1831172/m1/4/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Journalism; Okla. paper gets woman executive editor
| newspaper = Sooner State Press
| location = Norman, OK
| page = 49
| date = June 16, 1955
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3rEDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA49&pg=PA49
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
Stepping into early 1954, mentions of Gorham began in February when she composed an article of events in St. Louis published in St. Paul reporting on the Supreme Court test case quoting comments of Morehouse College president supporting ending segregation:
1) The religious approach which sees segregation as incompatible with the best that there is in the Christian gospel; 2) The point of view which finds it inconsistent with our democratic pronouncements as found in the federal Constitution, and 3) The world-view which see that America, the greatest democracy in the world, cannot assume the spiritual leadership of the world in segregated economy."{{cite newsSegregation, and its ending, was also no longer an issue just of society - her son was approaching 6 years old that fall. By March, she started publishing articles for The Oklahoma Eagle in Tulsa,* {{cite news| title =Terrible Think If Supreme Court OK's School Jimcrow |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder|via=ChroniclingAmerica.loc.gov
| location = St. Paul, Minnesota
| page = 1
| date = February 26, 1954
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016804/1954-02-26/ed-1/seq-1/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
| title = Foods for your fancy |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 5
| date = March 11, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804636/m1/5/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = In Pies to Salads - Shrimp are good for Lenten menus |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 8
| date = March 18, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804637/m1/8/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = John Morgan, Nowata's new commissioner, will take challenge of City Council position in stride
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 9
| date = March 25, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804638/m1/9/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
where she was a consultant in March,{{cite news| title = Thelma T. Gorham
| newspaper = The Lincoln Clarion|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Jefferson City, Missouri
| page = 8
| date = Mar 19, 1954
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135436878/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
and was a VP and Managing Editor by April.* {{cite news| title = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 10
| date = April 8, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804640/m1/10/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Tulsa Negroes hail decision, but doubt it will affect city soon
| newspaper = The Tulsa Tribune|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tulsa, Oklahoma
| page = 1
| date = May 17, 1954
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135436972/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}}
=Bahá'í and Professional=
==Tulsa==
Gorham joined the Bahá'í Faith in 1954, though we don't know the date, more for her son "to have a religious base”, although she was already familiar with the religion and it would come to inform her actions in a wide set of her actions. Yet it is unknown how much contact she had with Bahá'ís in Minneapolis/St. Paul/St. Louis or in Oklahoma or elsewhere, and/or publications mentioning Bahá'ís in the period before she joined the religion. It can be said that she had a copy of an insert from Bahá'í News on "Building the Bahá'í Community" from September 1952 that she kept in her collection of items throughout her life.{{Citation
| title =Building The Baha'i Community
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = Sep 1952
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/10646}}
Tulsa lacked a measurable Bahá'í presence in the period. The Bahá'ís of nearby and much bigger Oklahoma City was a community of 14 adults as of January 1955.{{cite news
| title = Little-known faith has foothold in city |author= Bill Morgan
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Times|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = January 15, 1955
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1998800/m1/4/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} It was a community dating from 1937 starting from Albert and Mrs. Entzminger's pioneering as a result of the first Seven Year Plan to form assemblies in every state.{{fact}} But in 1955, about 20 Bahá'ís were known in the state, so over half the Baha'is in the state lived in Oklahoma City. They had contacts in Tulsa from 1940,{{cite news
| title = Local Assemblies - Digest of Annual Teaching Reports; Oklahoma City
| newspaper = Baha'i News|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 6
| date = Apr 1940 |number=135
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_135.pdf&page=6
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} literature was in the Tulsa library in 1946,{{cite news
| title = Baha'i Literature in Public Libraries
| newspaper = Baha'i News|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 14
| date = Nov 1946 |number=189
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_189.pdf&page=14
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and it was a goal city for an assembly from 1953 and internal goals of Ten Year Crusade in the United States.{{cite news
| title = Goal Cities in the United States for the World Crusade at Home; South Central States
| newspaper = Baha'i News|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 7
| date = Oct 1953 |number=272
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_272.pdf&page=7
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} The Oklahoma City Bahá'ís held many meetings at the integrated and black community-centered YWCA, which was founded by Drusilla Dundee, sister of the founder of The Black Dispatch newspaper.{{cite web
| title = The African American Civil Rights Movement in Oklahoma; Biographies; Roscoe and Drusilla Dunjee.
| url = https://www.okhistory.org/learn/civilrights5
| publisher = Oklahoma Historical Society
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Starting a review of the area Bahá'í Community in 1952, the Weeden family gave a talk on their pilgrimage at that YWCA in May.* {{cite news
| title = Town Talk of the Times; Mr. and Mrs. Ben Weeden…
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Times|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 5
| date = May 14, 1952
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1988873/m1/5/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Mary Rublee of San Antonio was the guest speaker for the observance of the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh that November.{{cite news
| title = Founder of Faith to be recognized
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Times|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = November 8, 1952
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1989897/m1/4/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Oklahoma City's community heard a talk by Harry Ford of Colorado Springs held at the YWCA at the beginning of December and Albert P. Entzminger was mentioned as chair of the assembly in 1952.* {{cite news
| title = City Bah'ai(sic) group will hear an address by fellow member
| newspaper = The Daily Oklahoman|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 101
| date = Nov 30, 1952
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/52585548/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Entzminger was part of the staff of TV station WKY(now KFOR).{{cite news
| title = TV or not TV…
| newspaper = The Daily Oklahoman|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 36
| date = Jan 21, 1953
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/53488705/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Edward S. Campbell gave a talk "The Eternal Christ and the Drama of Salvation” in February 1953 at the YWCA.{{cite news
| title = Free Public Lecture(advert)
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Times|via=OkHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 6
| date = February 12, 1953
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1990426/m1/6/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} In March the national Bahá'í community announced the Ten Year Crusade which gained its own local publicity.* {{cite news
| title = Baha'i (sic) plans 10-year, World-Wide Crusade
| newspaper = The Daily Oklahoman|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 2156
| date = Mar 1, 1953
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/116361335/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Florence Mayberry was the speaker on "God's Plan - Man's Destiny" at the YWCA timed with Naw Ruz in Oklahoma City.{{cite news
| title = State meeting to hear writer
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Times|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = March 21, 1953
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1990563/m1/4/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} An article profiling the religion is echoed from Chicago talking about the International Conference and coming dedication of the Temple, and briefly of the history and teachings of the religion.{{cite news
| title = Clergyless religion begins celebration
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Times|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 19
| date = April 29, 1953
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1990689/m1/19/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} There was coverage of the opening dedication of the Temple in early May.* {{cite news
| title = Baha'i Temple opens quietly
| newspaper = The Daily Oklahoman|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 11
| date = May 3, 1953
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/52585657/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Religion
| newspaper = The Ada Evening News|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Ada, OK
| page = 8
| date = May 3, 1953
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/117575966/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Indeed there was further coverage in mid-May from the Associated Negro Press (ANP) profiling the Faith highlighting the stance on race issues in the country and published at The Oklahoma Eagle.{{cite news
| title = Baha'is dedicate $2,600,000 Faith Temple - takes Faith 50 years to build new edifice; dedication attracts 'First Lady' of World Faith
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| pages = 1,3
| date = May 14, 1953
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804593/m1/1/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} The unnamed reporter of the ANP article interviewed Ruhiyyih Khanum who gave her a review of African-American connections with the Faith starting with Louis Gregory, but going on to others in other places. However, further in the coverage, there was a set of points from the article that could be connections for Gorham. Among the speakers at meetings for the dedication of the Temple and the initiation of the Ten-Year Crusade was Charles H. Wesley, then president of Central State College in Wilberforce, Ohio. And a week later Wesley was the speaker at the Booker T. Washington High School commencement in Tulsa.{{cite news
| title = Commencement activities scheduled for 127 grads
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 1
| date = May 21, 1953
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804594/m1/1/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Another connection mentioned in the ANP article is Juanita C. Macklin and some of her story is told. She was a former Tulsan, who was then an instructor in Los Angeles City Schools and had stopped in Tulsa, where she was interviewed on her way to speak at Langston University. Another possible connection for Gorham outside the ANP coverage was more visible in later years. Adelaide Turner was visible as a local leading African American Bahá'í though it is not clear what her position was circa 1951-1954.
Adelaide Turner, who was a regional director of the YWCA of Nebraska,{{cite news
| title = Calvin Memorial Presbyterian Church - 24th & Wirt Streets
| newspaper = Omaha Star|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Omaha, Nebraska
| page = 5
| date = Jan 28, 1955
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/later-bahai-adelaide-turner/bpabbwaqbzlqtsnupzzrdpfzpjtetjbi_wma-gateway007_1690424155349
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} was later chair of the Kansas City Missouri Spiritual Assembly with coverage of this coming out of The Call, and went on to further services covered in other periodicals.* {{cite news
| title = YW Branch Director is well qualified in field
| newspaper = The Call|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Kansas City, Missouri
| page = 19
| date = Mar 8, 1957
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126114444/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = 51 at Baha'i Youth Meeting
| newspaper = The Courier|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Waterloo, Iowa
| page = 5
| date = Nov 30, 1959
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/69719934/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Tell speaker for Baha'i meeting
| newspaper = The Des Moines Register|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Des Moines, Iowa
| page = 6
| date = Jun 14, 1961
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/3475127/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Macy resident attends Baha'i Institute in Illinois
| newspaper = The Walthill Citizen|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Walthill, Nebraska
| page = 1
| date = Jul 5, 1962
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/128936595/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Omaha Social Worker honored|via=Newspapers.com
| newspaper = The Call
| location = Kansas City, Missouri
| page = 10
| date = Jul 10, 1964
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126117946/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title =Mrs. Adelaide Turner…
| newspaper =The Pittsburgh Courier|via=Newspapers.com
| location =Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| page =16
| date =8 Aug 1964
| url =https://www.newspapers.com/article/1334145/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = She'll stand on her head for her friends |author= Nina Anderson
| newspaper = Omaha World-Herald|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Omaha, Nebraska
| pages = 174–[https://www.newspapers.com/article/128935822/ 175]
| date = May 26, 1968
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/128935797/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Statehouse; New Corporations; Spiritual Assembly of Baha'is
| newspaper = Lincoln Journal Star|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Lincoln, Nebraska
| page = 15
| date = Jun 24, 1968
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/128936833/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Spiritual Assembly of Baha'is of Omaha…
| newspaper = Baha'i News|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 24
| date = Sep 1968 |number=450
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_450.pdf&page=24
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title =The Baha'i bit - and the God bit
| newspaper = The Omaha Star|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Omaha, Nebraska
| page = 3
| date = Jan 14, 1970
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/128936034/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Race Unity Day, Sunday, June 11th
| newspaper = The Omaha Star|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Omaha, Nebraska
| page = 1
| date = Jun 8, 1972
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/128936173/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Baha'i focus on 'Oneness'
| newspaper = Omaha World-Herald|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Omaha, Nebraska
| page = 2
| date = Jun 12, 1972
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/128936277/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title =One of Omaha's finest, 82-year-0ld "Addie" Turner spurns retirement for service as Vista Volunteer in Alexandria
| newspaper = The Omaha Star|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Omaha, Nebraska
| page = 1
| date = Sep 22, 1977
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/128936951/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
In June, 1954, Gorham was part of the panel for the Vernon AME Church North Side Missionary Union's Christian Social Relations Committee, and they were planning a similar work at the regional conference in Muskogee.{{cite news
| title = The Christian Social Relations Committee…
| newspaper = The Tulsa Tribune|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tulsa, Oklahoma
| page = 20
| date = Jun 18, 1954
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125385773/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Gorham was also there to receive the royal delegation from Ethiopia when they arrived at Stillwater.{{cite news
| title = At the airport…
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 1
| date = June 24, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804651/m1/1/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Gorham was then part of the AME congress held in Muskogee and was part of the panel discussion on integration on the theme "What we can do as missionary women to smooth the transition from segregation to integration."{{cite news
| title = AME Congress attracts many to Muskogee
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 6
| date = August 5, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804657/m1/6/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} The ANP had a small article on the upcoming 1954 Bahá'í national convention.* {{cite news
| title = Baha'i Faith to hold US National Convention April 29-May 2
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 7
| date = April 29, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804643/m1/7/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Helen Callaway was the delegate to the national convention from Oklahoma that year.{{cite news
| title = City woman attends Baha'i convention
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Times|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = May 1, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1991897/m1/4/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Ann Davidson spoke for the Oklahoma City Assembly at YWCA for Proclamation Day, an event that was also covered in The Black Dispatch.* {{cite news
| title = Baha'i Proclamations (sic) Day set next week
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Times|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 8
| date = September 23, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1992377/m1/8/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = "American is destined…"
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 2
| date = Sep 25, 1954
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125386276/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Margery McCormick spoke at the YWCA on the Faith noting "Less than one-third of the people in the world have white skins, …."* {{cite news
| title = Faith leader urges unity
| newspaper = The Tulsa Tribune|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tulsa, Oklahoma
| page = 52
| date = Oct 28, 1954
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/117576117/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} A reception for Patience Kindness of the Colorado Spring Bahá'í community was held in Tulsa.{{cite news
| title = Member of Colorado Bahai (sic) group visits
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 5
| date = December 16, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804676/m1/5/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
A couple of series of editorials by Gorham, one a stand-alone set often entitled "How Ready are We for Integration" across September-December and the other in a regular column "Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint", appear.* {{cite news
| title = Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint - All Negro teachers need is 'a chance' |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 8
| date = September 9, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804662/m1/8/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = How Ready Are We for Integration? Negroes Can't Force or Bully Their Way into Acceptance |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 1
| date = September 16, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804663/m1/1/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Who's Ready for What - Whites as well as Negroes Must Help Smooth Path to Integration |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 1
| date = September 23, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804664/m1/1/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint - Respect is due all Womankind |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 8
| date = September 30, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804665/m1/8/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Straight to the Heart - Preparation for Desegregation calls for some Soul Searching |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 1
| date = October 7, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804666/m1/1/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint - The Problem of Women Drinkers |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 8
| date = October 7, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804666/m1/8/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = We Don't Have It Made, But - More Attention to upkeep of properties would help No Tulsa |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 1
| date = October 14, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804667/m1/1/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint - Fathers are Parents too |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 10
| date = October 14, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804667/m1/10/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} Amidst the series, Gorham also aided a series of public talks on integration held in St. Louis through YMCA affiliations.{{cite news
| title = Forum talks set by club
| newspaper = Tulsa World|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tulsa, Oklahoma
| pages = 8
| date = Sep 23, 1954
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/135437381/
| access-date =Nov 19, 2023}} In October, she comments on National Bible Week and recalls the gift of Baltimore Negroes of a Bible to Abraham Lincoln. She says: "The best gift God has given to man, but it contains a variety of material to meet the temporal, as well as the spiritual, needs of the most discrimination readers",{{cite news
| title = Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint - The World's Best Seller - The Bible
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 8
| date = October 21, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804668/m1/8/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and continued her intermingled series of editorials.* {{cite news
| title = Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint - Volunteers are Always Needed |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 8
| date = October 28, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804669/m1/8/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = All Minority Members Share Responsibility for Acceptance |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 9
| date = November 4, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804670/m1/9/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint - Letter-to-Editor Sign of Alertness |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 10
| date = November 4, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804670/m1/10/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
In November, Gorham penned an editorial on the problem of lacking faith - key in her view to the ability to stand up for what needs to be done rather than fall into platitudes. She examined both historical as well as present race issues to rise over fears and oppression by sanction. And she looked at more than a general lack of faith, specifically "A lack of faith in God as a loving Father, and a lack of faith in the innate goodness of His creation.”{{cite news
| title = Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint - to stand up and be counted needs faith |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 8
| date = November 11, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804671/m1/8/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} This was published close to the observance of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh. Gorham returned to the subject of personal faith a week later, calling for faith in God and His Creation. She counters the feeling of "too much talk about desegregation and integration" and also parses the words from sides of the debate and that integration "must come through the application of understanding… and faith… and love."{{cite news
| title = Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint - To Stand Up and Be Counted Needs Faith |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 10
| date = November 18, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804672/m1/10/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Gorham then addresses the issue of prejudice and "the acceptance of second class citizenship on both sides of the color line, the time has come to consider some of the things that can be done… to accentuate the positive in the trend toward desegregation and integration in American life.”{{cite news
| title = Ministers Might As Well Get With It |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 9
| date = November 25, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804673/m1/9/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} She goes on to various examples of the frustrations on both sides of the color line, with both sides seeking economic security, though the problem touches on other parts of life. She observed the churches can have a far-reaching impact if they were desegregated, at least for emotional security. However, she feels that the churches had to lead on this. She also noted Mrs. Charles S. Johnson, wife of the president of Fisk University, mentioned the idea - that "11 o'clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America."{{cite news
| title = The Negro Has Heroes… History of All Races Needs to be Publicized |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 9
| date = December 2, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804674/m1/9/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Her series of editorials continued into January 1955.* {{cite news
| title = Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint - Make Thanksgiving a Daily Practice |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 10
| date = December 2, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804674/m1/10/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint - ‘Guinea Pigs' Need Stamina |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 8
| date = December 9, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804675/m1/8/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint - 'Designing Females' Influence Car Design |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 1
| date = December 16, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804676/m1/10/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint - Pruning Makes Way for the New Year |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 10
| date = December 30, 1954
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804678/m1/10/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Distaff Diary: One Woman's Viewpoint - The 'Long, Lean Look' is Decreed |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 8
| date = January 20, 1955
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804681/m1/8/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Summary of Progress Replaces Facts on Lynching - Tuskegee Report is new Index to Race Relations |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 12
| date = January 20, 1955
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804681/m1/12/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = In Race Relations trends show South not so 'Solid Tuskegee Report Statistics |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Oklahoma Eagle|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Tulsa, OK
| page = 12
| date = January 27, 1955
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1804682/m1/12/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} (there are various mentions but no more editorials.) Gorham was managing editor of The Oklahoma Eagle in 1955.
The community was going to hold World Religion Day in January 1955 with Mrs. Randall T. Cochran of Kirkwood, Missouri, speaker, and coverage was published in The Black Dispatch.{{cite news
| title = Bahai's(sic) to observe "World Religion Day" January 16
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 11
| date = Jan 15, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125386289/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Ida Belle Sine gave a talk for the Chappell Class in February.* {{cite news
| title = Chappell Class
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Star|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 39
| date = Feb 11, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/52586696/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Gorham's series "How Ready Are We for Integration" was the reason for an award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews for Brotherhood Week of February though the award went to the newspaper as such and not directly to Gorham.{{cite news
| title = Tulsa newspaper wins Brotherhood Award
| newspaper = The Tulsa Tribune|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tulsa, Oklahoma
| page = 32
| date = Feb 15, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125422354/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Fascinatingly Yours…
| newspaper = The Pittsburgh Courier|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| page = 10
| date = Mar 5, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125422498/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Representatives from Tulsa schools…
| newspaper = Tulsa World|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tulsa, Oklahoma
| page = 38
| date = Mar 22, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125422565/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Inbetween she also was working on the Oklahoma City Human Relations Council.{{cite news
| title = State Coordinating Council in action
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 3
| date = Dec 25, 1954
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125385782/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
In April a Bahá'í regional conference was held at Callaway home with Mrs. David Ruhe and Francis Johnson gave talks,{{cite news
| title = Bah'i(sic) world Faith to hold meeting here
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 7
| date = Apr 2, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/111724592/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and a talk "What the Bah'ai(sic) World Faith offers Modern Man" was held at the YWCA Saturday night.{{cite news
| title = Free Public Lecture
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Times|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = April 2, 1955
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1999057/m1/4/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Arabelle Haywood, living at the Center,{{cite news
| title = August Birthdays
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Aug 18, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125618738/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} hosted informal meetings on the Faith at her home a week later, published in The Black Dispatch.* {{cite news
| title = Welcome
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 10
| date = Apr 9, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125386316/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Welcome to an…
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 9
| date = Apr 16, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125386326/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} In May, the National Bahá'í Assembly message was published addressing the persecution in Iran.{{cite news
| title = Sect to appear Iran suppression
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Times|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 5
| date = May 24, 1955
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1999228/m1/5/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} It was later that summer, June 26, when Gorham was publicly mentioned as a Bahá'í in coverage of a reception picnic in Oklahoma City was held for her which was published July 2 in The Black Dispatch.{{cite news
| title =Okla. City Baha'is fete newcomer at picnic
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Jul 2, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/111724672/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} The week after she had her picnic reception, she was at an integrated conference of the Faith in Little Rock, Arkansas, along with Margaret Ruhe and others at the Lafayette Hotel.{{cite news
| title = Baha'is make history at Little Rock meet
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 2
| date = Jul 9, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/111724756/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}
==Oklahoma City==
Prior to accepting a position with the Oklahoma City Public Schools, she was already executive editor of the "militant" Black Dispatch, (according to the Omaha Star,) the "Oklahoma City Negro weekly", essentially simultaneous with being public as a Bahá'í in July 1955. Bahá'í meetings continued to be mentioned in The Dispatch in August.{{cite news
| title = Chicagoan feted
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Aug 11, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125618852/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} A month later, she was visible at a reception for friends.* {{cite news
| title =Hostesses include Mesdames J. W. Sanford, J. L. Randolph, S. Washington, G. L. Harrison
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Aug 4, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125441709/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Ellison Family Picnic held three days at Lake Murray attracts relatives from far away Agana, Guam, Marianna Islands
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 2
| date = Aug 18, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125385859/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
While still being invited to speak at black church functions,* {{cite news
| title = Editor to speak - Allen Chapel AME Missionary groups to sponsor 'Night in Paris'
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 2
| date = Aug 18, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125422785/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} her next Bahá'í conference was local in early September in the Allis Hotel.{{cite news
| title = Mrs. Gorham speaks at Wichita Baha'i Area Teaching Meet
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 11
| date = Sep 8, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125386441/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Later in September Gorham penned a story of her own about a centenarian in town,* {{cite news
| title = Momentous Day for a gracious lady - Mrs. Luella Smith of Oklahoma City celebrates 100th Birthday with three sons and three daughters present for the occasion |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 11
| date = Sep 22, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125422855/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and then returned to her editorial efforts. She examines the difficulty of bias, that we notice and hate it applied to us while when we do it, like it seems most natural and appropriate when we do it ourselves. She writes "By denying their children the rich experience of understanding and respecting and learning to love all humankind for the God that is in them, they relegate their children to outhouses of the mind and soul.… And if parents won't take the step, then the youth must make the move to free themselves by independent investigation of all available facts and by repudiation of the misinformation of their unthinking or misguided elders.” and proceeds to decry moves towards segregation in the black community as well.{{cite news
| title = Meeting today's challenge - only blood and tears can eradicate men's 'outhouses of the mind |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 1
| date = Sep 22, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125422904/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} That same weekend she took part in a “Great Books” club discussion in Oklahoma City.{{cite news
| title = TTG
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Sep 22, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125440922/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Her next editorial came in early October speaking the death of Emmett Till and of her own son being raised in liberal circumstances about race and in an encounter he had: "… I am a child of God, just the same as she is…”.{{cite news
| title = After We Protest -- then What? |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 1
| date = Oct 6, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125422958/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} The next week came a talk by Gorham for the Tulsa Beauticians Sorority,* {{cite news
| title = Oklahoma citians to take part in conclave of Tulsa Beauticians' Sorority
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Oct 13, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125423136/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} and her next editorial including comments like:
"But to be a devotee of religion as a solution to our problems is to be a 'long hair.' And it is not yet popular to be 'long-haired' in religion. Indeed, it is really not yet universally popular to be religious.… it appears that a grave need today is for a few 'long hairs' in religion - sincere devotees who will not be guilty of deprivation of the people through lust for leadership or through want of knowledge and understanding.… At mid-century, as mankind moves or is pushed - into the orbit of total integration, there are many challenges…. Perhaps the greatest of these is the challenge implicit in a law which proclaims and underlies the basic unity of all religion and the oneness of truth - a law which runs like a golden thread through all the great religions of the world… to love God as a father and love all men as children of the same father. Where men debate the issue of who is inferior or superior …all can agree with Baha'u'llah - the Manifestation of God in our time - that 'the lovers of mankind … these are the superior men, of whatever nation, creed, or race they may be."{{cite news| title = Religion is realm of 'creative minority' - Protest should be followed by positive action |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| pages = 1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/125423049/ 2]
| date = Oct 13, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125422992/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
In later October, the Oklahoma City Bahá'ís held UN Day at the YWCA with a children's afternoon program by Laura Lee, Marefatollah Soghani, Mrs Nathan (Carole Kelsey) Rubstein, and Helen Callaway. In the evening, the Bahá'ís had a panel with Idabel Sime, Arabelle Haywood, and moderator Gorham herself.{{cite news
| title = 'Y' to take on international flavor here
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Times|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 9
| date = October 22, 1955
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1999716/m1/9/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} There was also a showing of a 30 minute film on the UN and then the next evening Winston Evans speaking at the Bahá'í Center.{{cite news
| title = Baha'i Community of O. C. to observe U. N. Anniversary
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| pages = 1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/111724853/ 2]
| date = Oct 20, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/111724797/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Meanwhile Gotham’s next editorial came out supporting the benefits of progress in the state should go to all and not just some.{{cite news
| title = Sepia Sooners, please note! All Oklahomans should benefit as state progresses industrially |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 1
| date = Oct 20, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125423165/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} A week later Gorham spoke at the Bethany Presbyterian Church's annual Women's Day Sunday morning program, with coverage saying she was a former AME church member but not that she was now a Bahá'í.{{cite news
| title = Mrs. Thelma T. Gorham to speak at Bethany on Women's Day Program
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 1
| date = Oct 27, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/111724975/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} In this busy October, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, that had earlier given her work an award but to the newspaper itself, and local organizations, held a conference at the Oklahoma City University. Gorham was one of the compilers of the input of group meetings towards the output of the organization.{{cite news
| title = Human Relations Institute to be held Thursday
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Advertiser|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| pages = 1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/125385893/ 10]
| date = Oct 28, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125617195/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
In November, Gorham, sometimes with son, was visible at various receptions,* {{cite news
| title = Arm-chair travelers see slides - Mrs W. Taft Watts shows films to members, guest at East Side Culture Club's meeting
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Nov 10, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125441735/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Mrs Grace Shropshire is hostess to Jack and Jill Mothers group in Guthrie
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 5
| date = Nov 24, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125385899/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Mrs. L. C. McFarland conducts lesson study for Semper Fidelis Club
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Nov 24, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125441746/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and Gorham continued various articles like the US Supreme Court striking down an Oklahoma law requiring race designations on ballots of those running for office,{{cite news
| title = Supreme Court Strikes Down Biased Statute - McDonald wins verdict |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 1
| date = Nov 17, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125423253/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} spoke to the NAACP,{{cite news
| title = Mrs. Gorham to speak for NAACP at Perry, Okla.
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Nov 24, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125423281/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and then at a vocational printing class in mid-December.{{cite news
| title = DHCS Printing Students hear Mrs. T. Gorham
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 10
| date = Dec 22, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125423396/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Earlier in December the local Bahá'í community was visible making donations for raising a memorial site for a group of Americans that were killed in Iran circa 1951,{{cite news
| title = Bennett Memorial Fund Tally is $133
| newspaper = The Daily Oklahoman|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 62
| date = Dec 2, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/52609569/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and Arabelle Haywood was mentioned staying in Oklahoma City as a homefront pioneer,{{cite news
| title = Mrs. Arabelle Haywood to spend Xmas Holidays with family in Chicago
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Dec 22, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/111725044/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} with ongoing meetings, and some of them hosted at Gorham’s home on 17th St.{{cite news
| title = 'Divine Art of Living' is subject of newly scheduled Baha'i fireside discussions
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 11
| date = Dec 22, 1955
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125385916/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
In January, 1956, Gorham continued her presence at social engagements,{{cite news
| title = Kansans are Charming Holiday Visitors of the L. Quincy Jacksons
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Jan 5, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125441925/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and writing articles for the Dispatch on race issues.* {{cite news
| title = Signs Still Up - No Jim Crow Reported in Tulsa Station |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 1
| date = Jan 26, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125423537/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Jester is 'Sage of 2nd Street' - Understanding, Happiness are Goals of All Mankind Says 'Doughbelly' Brooks |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 1
| date = Mar 15, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125423679/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Jack and Jill Club husbands feted at Annual Sweetheart Party
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Feb 23, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125441972/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Getting the Most Out of Life - Mrs. Harriet Price Jacobson has Pioneered in Giving Okla. Clubwomen Leadership Heritage |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 1
| date = Feb 23, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125423656/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Dairy Producer Reports - Farmers Meet in FO and PS fete at Boley
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 9
| date = Mar 29, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125385935/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = 'No Thought of Retirement' - Dr A. I. Davis, 'Dean' of Oklahoma Medical Men, still 'Going Strong after 54 years |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 1
| date = Apr 5, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125423715/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} And there were visits from her mother and kin in February.{{cite news
| title = Mmes. Bertha Lee, Lula Kline Return to Kansas City, Kans.
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Feb 2, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125441936/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} She also gave occasional talks, for example “Negro History and Brotherhood”.{{cite news
| title = Creston Hills Pupils Hear Negro History, Brotherhood Talk
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 5
| date = Feb 23, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125441994/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Bahá'í activities continued elsewhere in Oklahoma,* {{cite news
| title = Enid Residents to Hold Baha'i Brotherhood Meet
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 7
| date = Feb 9, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/111725170/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Golden Rule is Pathway - Brotherhood Observance held under Baha'i Auspices in Enid
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 7
| date = Feb 16, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125423623/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} as well as in Oklahoma City,* {{cite news
| title = The Golden Rule, Path to World Brotherhood
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 7
| date = Feb 16, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125386560/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Anniversary of Okla. City Guest House observed by Baha'is
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Feb 23, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/111725306/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} while there were Bahá'í quotes published in The Dispatch.* {{cite news
| title = Thought for the Week
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 6
| date = Feb 9, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125386551/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Thought for the Week
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 5
| date = Mar 29, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125386659/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Also in March, a regional conference of the Area Teaching Committee was held in Springfield, Missouri.{{cite news
| title = Baha'i Area Teaching Committee Conference held in Springfield
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 7
| date = Mar 1, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125386599/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Events at the Bahá'í Guest House continued including with Gorham,{{cite news
| title = Mrs Judy Potts is feted on birthday by Miss. H. Callaway
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Mar 8, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125386611/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and Naw Ruz was held.{{cite news
| title = Observe Naw-Ruz - Baha'is Celebrate New Year of Faith
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 11
| date = Mar 22, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125386655/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} ‘’The Black Dispatch’’ continued other Bahá'í mentions like The Associated Negro Press review of Race and Man.{{cite news
| title = About Books by the Associated Negro Press
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 6
| date = Mar 15, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125386636/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Meanwhile, Gorham also continued her occasional speaking opportunities like in Shawnee for the Excelsior Club which was quite a focus of hers March-through-April.* {{cite news
| title = The Excelsior Club…
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Mar 8, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125385927/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Shawnee Negroes - No School Monday for Dunbar students
| newspaper = Shawnee News-Star|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Shawnee, Oklahoma
| page = 4
| date = Apr 8, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125385940/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Shawnee Negroes - Visitors to join in anniversary program |author= Mrs B. F. Myers
| newspaper = Shawnee News-Star|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Shawnee, Oklahoma
| page = 20
| date = Apr 15, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125385953/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Clubs and Greek Organizations; The Excelsior Club
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Apr 19, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125385955/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = The Excelsior Club held its…
| newspaper = Shawnee News-Star|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Shawnee, Oklahoma
| page = 5
| date = Apr 24, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125385963/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Gorham was also elected president of the Creston Hills School PTA,{{cite news
| title = Creston Hills School PTA elects new Officers for 1956-57
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 3
| date = Mar 22, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125442036/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} during a period of integration of the school system.{{cite news
| title = El Reno School wins recognition at PTA meet
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 7
| date = Apr 19, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125442095/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}{{cite journal
| last = Billington
| first = Monroe
| title = Public School Integration in Oklahoma, 1954-1963
| journal = The Historian
| volume = 26
| issue = 4
| pages = 521–37
| date = 1964
| jstor = 24442556
| issn = }} Mr. Gorham came down sick in early April during his career on radio KBYE(later KTLR).{{cite news
| title = 'Mr. G' sick in Veterans' Hospital
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| pages = 1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/125445082/ 2]
| date = Apr 5, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125445009/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Also in April, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís published a statement against the persecution going on in Iran,{{cite news
| title = Persecution Resumed - New Attacks made in Iran on Baha'is
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 7
| date = Apr 12, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125386669/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and a local Ridvan event was planned,{{cite news
| title = (?) Baha'i to Visit Okla. City on 'Ridvan Tour"
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 2
| date = Apr 12, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125386682/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} while Gorham MC’ed a meeting of the Club Leonard.{{cite news
| title = Spring Style Fete Planned - Members of Artistic Social Club Schedule Big Fashion Event for Sunday evening at Club Leonard
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = Apr 12, 1956
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125423841/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
January 1957 opened with the Bahá'í Assembly of Oklahoma City holding World Religion Day with Gorham as chair of the event.* {{cite news
| title = "A Common Faith: Basis for World Peace", is WRD Theme
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 7
| date = January 11, 1957
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2051071/m1/7/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = World Religion Day observance set here
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Advertiser|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 10
| date = January 18, 1957
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2068298/m1/10/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Central State Students wed in Oklahoma City ceremony |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = January 11, 1957
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2051071/m1/4/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}* {{cite news
| title = "A Common Faith: Basis for World Peace", is WRD Theme
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 7
| date = January 11, 1957
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2051071/m1/7/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = World Religion Day observance set here
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Advertiser|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 10
| date = January 18, 1957
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2068298/m1/10/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Moon School class presents Dollie's Dilemma
| newspaper = Oklahoma City Times|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 33
| date = January 31, 1957
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1996873/m1/33/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} In March, Gorham was the speaker for the Bahá'í sponsored World Youth Day at the YWCA on W. Park "Stockpiling for the Future: A Baha'i Looks at Youth". Gorham was also a teacher at the black community school of Moon Junior High(later renamed).{{cite news
| title = World Youth Day planned by Baha'is
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 4
| date = March 22, 1957
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2051081/m1/4/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} Her talk was summarized/quoted about youth owing their parents and the need for adults to get educated and other community work going on.{{cite news
| title = Baha'is salute youth in annual observance
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch |via=OKHistory.org
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 3
| date = March 29, 1957
| url = https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2051082/m1/3/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} In August, she received her certification as a teacher in Language Arts in Oklahoma,{{Citation
| title =Oklahoma State Board of Education Certification for Thelma T. Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = August 5, 1957
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/7009}} She took graduate-level coursework at the University of Oklahoma at Norman in the summer of 1957.{{Citation
| title =Central State College Transcript for Thelma T. Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = Sep 25, 1962
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/7055}} Late in the summer, the Gorhams held a reception in Oklahoma City, and it was mentioned that Richard was working in newspaper publishing, Thelma was a high school teacher, and Thelma and Darryl were guests of a couple of families in Kansas City, Missouri.* {{cite news
| title = 'Dogpatch' Party held in honor of Richard Gorhams of Oklahoma City
| newspaper = The Call|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Kansas City, Missouri
| page = 7
| date = Sep 13, 1957
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126953921/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = R R Graham entertained by friends
| newspaper = Plaindealer|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Kansas City, Kansas
| page = 3
| date = Sep 13, 1957
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-gorham-fam-entertains/rumhwnojuqrzdkkdtbtrnfqirpxcsatz_wma-gateway009_1687607239688
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}
Gorham's husband summarily left the family in later April 1958, followed by the death of Gorham's brother in June and the end of the Gorham Enterprises business they had been running.{{Citation
| title =Letter from Thelma T. Gorham to R. O. Cannon
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = August 1, 1958
| year = 2024
|page=1
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9367 }} The unexpected death of her brother while staying in her home caused a delay in her attempt to publish an article in The Oklahoma Teacher that summer.{{Citation
| title =Letter from Thelma T. Gorham to Maurine Paul (ed - Managing Editor of The Oklahoma Teacher)
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = August 26, 1958
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9651}} Gorham was named on the 1958 Bahá'í summer school program committee for the Southwestern School early in the year.* {{cite news
| title = Bahá'í Directory Changes
| newspaper = Baha'i News |number=323 |via=Bahai.Works
| page = 20
| date = Jan 1958
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_323.pdf&page=20
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Assembly Directory Changes
| newspaper = US Supplement to the Baha'i News |number=2|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 4
| date = March 1958
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:US_Supplement_2.pdf&page=4
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} That year's Bahá'í Summer School was held at Bachman's Lake YMCA Camp Kiwanis in November,{{cite news
| title = 95 Students from 11 States attend first Southwestern Baha'i Summer School
| newspaper = Baha'i News |number=333|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 12–3
| date = Nov 1958
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_333.pdf&page=12
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} in Dallas,{{cite web
| title = I Remember When Camp Kiwanis was at Bachman Lake
| url = https://www.friendsofbachmanlake.org/post/i-remember-when-camp-kiwanis-was-at-bachman-lake
| website = FriendsofBuchmanLake.org
| date = Nov 1, 2021 |author=Tim Dickey
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} an event attended by soon-Baha’i Jack E. McCants.{{fact}} Meanwhile, in June, kin Stafford Warren Parker was named to US Army staff in France,{{cite news
| title = Relative of local people with US Army in France
| newspaper = St Paul Recorder|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Saint Paul, Minnesota
| page = 5
| date = Dec 5, 1958
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/nephew-bahai-thelma-thurston-gorham/nrmofxzmbgjssmlzqymlqprkihryppvk_wma-gateway016_1686320741527
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and Gorham herself sent an inquiry about seeking a PhD at the University of Oklahoma.{{Citation
| title =Letter from Thelma Gorham to Fayette Copeland
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = August 1, 1958
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6345}}
A number of sources outline the Gorhams in 1959{{cite news
| title = $100,000 in fellowships awarded to 18
| newspaper = Omaha Star|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Omaha, Nebraska
| page = 1 [https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-thurston-gorham-continued/btjqdgysmafwcpljayyjceywnmhmycce_wma-gateway008_1685304735808 2]
| date = Apr 3, 1959
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-thurston-gorham-awarded/kzztcliqweojdnmyyvhgoyvflgylwakq_wma-gateway012_1685304676765
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} - they were listed on 17th Street in Oklahoma City. As a member of the Bahá'í Faith, this year Gorham was elected as Secretary of the local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Oklahoma City. She was also a teacher at F. D. Moon Junior High School and chair of its PTA, was also president of the Oklahoma City Urban League Guild, served as a journalist of the local chapter of Jack and Jill of America, and secretary of the 1959 year Southwestern Baha’i School committee.{{cite news
| title = Baha'i Directory Changes
| newspaper = US Supplement to Baha'i News|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 4
| date = Feb 1959 |number=12
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:US_Supplement_12.pdf&page=4
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} On her application for admission in pursuit of a Ph.D. at Stanford in 1959, she listed references would come from Dr. Ralph D. Casey of the University of California, Mitche Charnley of the University of Minnesota, and Dr. Charles Swanson of Curtis Publishing Co. of Philadelphia, PA.
=Minnesota=
Gorham was awarded a $5000 grant from Stanford University in April 1959.{{cite news
| title = Mrs. Gorham gets $5000 study grant
| newspaper = California Eagle|via=Archive.org
| location = Los Angeles, CA
| page = 3
| date = Apr 9, 1959
| url = https://archive.org/details/la_caleagle_reel48/page/n138/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} The award listed her as one of 18 splitting $100k from the Fund for Adult Education for Stanford University.* {{cite magazine
| title = JET stringer-correspondent wins Fellowship
| magazine = Jet |volume=15 |number=26
| page = 21
| date = Apr 23, 1959
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=l0EDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA21&pg=PA21
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Receives Fellowship: University Grad, Daughter of local man, Gets Award
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder|via=ChroniclingAmerica.lov.gov
| location = St. Paul, Minnesota
| page = 1
| date = April 10, 1959
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016804/1959-04-10/ed-1/seq-1/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Her profile listed her membership in the society for women in Journalism, Theta Sigma Phi, that she had been elected to membership in Nu chapter at the University of Minnesota, and that she was the first Negro student to be initiated into the organization. During her fellowship year at Stanford, Mrs. Gorham would be accompanied by her ten-year-old son who would be enrolled as a pupil in the Stanford University Laboratory school. The plans were to study at the Stanford Institute for Communications Research the school year of 1959-1960; returning eastward, she was covered as a guest speaker in Springfield, Illinois, in The Chicago Defender.{{cite news
| title = Famed Journalist - Teacher Visits Springfield, Mo.; Addresses Group
| newspaper = The Chicago Defender (National edition)
| location = Chicago, IL
| page = 15
| date = 29 Aug 1959}} She called for adaptability to change so that the "spectacle of Little Rock" and other incidents would not happen. She and son Darryl were guests of Count & Mrs. Harvey, was given a tour of the city by the first Negro declarants of Springfield, Ed & Mrs. Adams, and had been on a recent trip to the Temple in Chicago as well as The Defender offices who included two of her former students - Lee Blackwell and Eddie Madison. In October, she was visible in St. Paul doing a book review for a club,{{cite news
| title = Social & Personal St. Paul; Book Club Review
| newspaper = Minneapolis Spokesman|via=ChroniclingAmerica.lov.gov
| location = Minneapolis, Minnesota
| page = 5
| date = October 2, 1959
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025247/1959-10-02/ed-1/seq-5/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and that winter took part in a Bahá'í meeting for Maria Montana.{{cite news
| title = Bahai (sic) Community fetes Miss Montana at Pretty Party
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder|via=ChroniclingAmerica.lov.gov
| location = St. Paul, MN
| page = 5
| date = December 11, 1959
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016804/1959-12-11/ed-1/seq-5/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Back in the area, Gorham took graduate level classes from the Fall of 1959 into the second summer session of 1961.{{Citation
| title =Official Transcripts for Thelma T. Gorham, 1931-1961
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = October 17, 1964
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/7045}}
January 1960 she also writes from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area about local nursing home development,{{cite news
| title = New Angelus Nursing Home viewed by several hundred |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = Minneapolis Spokesman|via=ChroniclingAmerica.lov.gov
| location = Minneapolis, MN
| page = 1
| date = January 15, 1960
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025247/1960-01-15/ed-1/seq-1/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and spoke at a sorority event,{{cite news
| title = Thelma Gorham to speak at Founders Day of Sorority
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder|via=ChroniclingAmerica.lov.gov
| location = St. Paul, MN
| page = 1
| date = February 19, 1960
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016804/1960-02-19/ed-1/seq-1/
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} and that spring she was elected to Minneapolis Local Spiritual Assembly.{{cite news
| title = Bahai (sic) group elects officers; make plans
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder|via=ChroniclingAmerica.lov.gov
| location = St. Paul, MN
| page = 5
| date = April 29, 1960
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016804/1960-04-29/ed-1/seq-5/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Bertha Lee of Kansas City and grandson Parker visited Gorham and kin. Parker was an adjunct officer in the Air Force in France.* {{cite news
| title = Bahai (sic) group elects officers; make plans
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder|via=ChroniclingAmerica.lov.gov
| location = St. Paul, MN
| page = 5
| date = April 29, 1960
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016804/1960-04-29/ed-1/seq-5/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Kansas Citians visit Twin Cities relatives
| newspaper = Minneapolis Spokesman|via=ChroniclingAmerica.lov.gov
| location = Minneapolis, MN
| page = 3
| date = May 6, 1960
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025247/1960-05-06/ed-1/seq-3/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} During 1960 she was present at a dress down of journalist student on the University of Minnesota campus.{{cite book
| last = Bailey
| first = D’Army
| title = The Education of a Black Radical: A Southern Civil Rights Activist's Journey, 1959-1964 |chapter=NSA Summer Camp Transformations
| publisher = Louisiana State University Press
| date = 2009
| location = Baton Rouge
| page = 65
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6G1qpNjGPA4C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA65&pg=PA65
| isbn = 9780807136522
| oclc= 312729439}} In May Gorham was a staff writer for The Minnesota Daily Ivory Tower Edition,{{cite news
| title = Writers
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily: Ivory Tower Edition|via=Conservancy.umn.edu
| location = Minneapolis, MN
| page = 3
| date = May 9, 1960
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/240420
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and in July covered the NAACP convention for the ANP at Hotel Lowry as part of lifting [https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/civil-rights-leaders/roy-wilkins Roy Wilkins] rise to notability.{{cite news
| title = Dramatic Response: Youths applaud, lift Wilkins to shoulders in big demonstration |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder|via=ChroniclingAmerica.lov.gov
| location = St. Paul, MN
| page = 1
| date = July 1, 1960
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016804/1960-07-01/ed-1/seq-1/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} In September she covered Minneapolis youth issues and crime,{{cite news
| title = Walte Program Director Says: Delinquency Problems need Community Resources use Love and Compassion |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = Minneapolis Spokesman|via=ChroniclingAmerica.lov.gov
| location = Minneapolis, MN
| page = 1
| date = September 9, 1960
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025247/1960-09-09/ed-1/seq-1/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and was funded at the University of Minneapolis on a Ford Foundation fellowship, and that she was visible going to be joining Southern University at Baton Rouge where she would be supervising the publication of The Digest school newspaper. {{cite news
| title = JET stringer to join Southern U. Faculty
| newspaper = JET
| page = 26
| date = Sep 22, 1960
| url = https://archive.org/details/sim_jet_1960-09-22_18_22/page/26/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Meanwhile in the fall she was named added to the Baháa'í national Interracial Teaching Committee,{{cite news
| title = Baha'i Directory Changes; Additions to Committees; Baha'i Interracial Teaching
| newspaper = US Supplement to Baha'i News |via=Bahai.Works
| number=32
| page = 4
| date = Oct 1960
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:US_Supplement_32.pdf&page=4
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and published an article set on a series of fictional stories people ranging from not prejudiced, who stands up to violent opposition, to fairly prejudiced cases of people who's biased conformist behaviors compromise too much.{{cite news
| title = Staccato I, II, III |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily: Ivory Tower Edition|via=ChroniclingAmerica.lov.gov
| location = Minneapolis, MN
| page = 11-5, 20
| date = October 3, 1960
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/240463
| access-date = Nov 13, 2023}} In October 1961, she received word that some work she had done in French was used to satisfy her work towards a PhD.{{Citation
| title =Memo from Bryce Crawford Jr. to Thelma T. Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = October 17, 1961
| year = 2024
|page=1
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9478}}
=Louisiana, and Hawaii, and Oklahoma…=
Around 1960-1962 Gorham was teacher at HBCU Southern University, and listed on staff for next term 1960-1961.{{cite news
| title = Southern U. Expects Record Enrollment
| newspaper = Advocate
| location = Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| page = 29
| date = Sep 16, 1960
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-t-gorham/najishnerbtxuarjnnfptekwniohpksg_wma-gateway001_1686314782466
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} She wrote in 1961 in the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis student newspaper The Minnesota Daily: Ivory Tower Edition already committed to moving to Baton Rouge. Part of the trip, she took pictures.{{Citation
| title =Baha'i Trips from Memphis to Baton Rouge
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = 1961
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/2382}} She wrote of dreaming of being able to travel to Africa, first to Ghana, but then seeing the Bahá'í development in Uganda. She sees the rising wave of independence in Africa and Ghana in particular "because it appears to me that the black man has a definite role to play in bringing about the ultimate elimination of all sorts of prejudices and because the drama of the elimination of prejudices based on race may well be played out in Africa.… Because I believe that mankind is evolutionary and created to carry forward an ever advancing civilization and that all men are parts of one human family that must eventually be unified on this planet, I enjoy a ring-side seat wherever men are playing out their roles in this great drama. The drama is thrilling whether men make themselves ridiculous as they resist the inevitable with name-calling, jeers, legal barriers and taxation without representation; or whether they ennoble themselves as they move forward to accept the challenge…. now that the giant is awake and throwing off his shackles, my interest is divided between Ghana and Uganda. In this new or added interest I am again motivated by the desires to have a ring-side seat at another performance in the great drama of human evolution. This week in Kampala, Uganda, on a wind-swept hill some distance from the center of town a beautifully-domed, nine-sided building is being dedicated. It is the Mother Temple, Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the Baha'i World Faith in Africa. It symbolizes the spiritual eagerness, and the physical agility with which the once sleeping giant is assuming the responsibilities of a new era, responding to the demands of the position that he must occupy in the family of mankind.… When and if I ever go to Ghana, I don't expect to find the experience strange and exotic.… I think I'll feel as though I had never left home.…"{{cite news
| title = An American Negro explains why she is going to Ghana |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily: Ivory Tower Edition
| location = University of Minnesota at Minneapolis
| pages = 8-9, 13
| date = January 16, 1961
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/240513
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} This article was the first mention of the Bahá'í Faith on campus in its newspaper since November 1957 when there was a Bahá'í Club meeting,{{cite news
| title = What's Doing; Clubs
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily
| location = University of Minnesota at Minneapolis
| page = 5
| date = November 8, 1957
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/239009
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} as there was after she left.{{cite news
| title = What's Doing; Sunday
| newspaper = The Minnesota Daily
| location = University of Minnesota at Minneapolis
| page = 10
| date = May 19, 1961
| url = https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/240587
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
In April 1961 she was visible working at the Southern University's Press Workshop.* {{cite news
| title = Press Workshop set this week at Southern U.
| newspaper = State Times Advocate
| location = Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| page = 28
| date = Apr 3, 1961
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-thurston-gorham-press-conference/kahtscjuiszwmplpuzcfqgutyduhjldl_wma-gateway009_1686319408868
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Journalism meet opens Friday at Southern U.
| newspaper = Advocate
| location = Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| page = 20
| date = Apr 7, 1961
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-t-gorham/etfajwaudryqnxijhhbfijerpwnvhras_wma-gateway009_1686317576061
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Press Workshop continues at Southern U.
| newspaper = State Times Advocate
| location = Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| page = 3
| date = Apr 8, 1961
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-t-gorham-faculty-advisor/bgcxjiwfhkskadrmsiiilfruddgcelyp_wma-gateway003_1686317317115
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} This is also when the Gorhams divorce was finalized.
In May Gorham did a book review talk at the YWCA in Baton Rouge on "Man Under Stress",* {{cite news
| title = Ringgold YWCA plans book review tonight
| newspaper = State Times Advocate
| location = Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| page = 60
| date = May 3, 1961
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-thurston-gorham-does-book-review-talk/lshyqezrifeuebrfxxhzurprfnsrltxd_wma-gateway015_1686319838381
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and was still listed in May as a Minnesota University faculty and advisor, and credited with assisting the Southern University Digest.{{cite news
| title = Publisher's Corner
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder
| location = St. Paul, MN
| page = 2
| date = May 19, 1961
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016804/1961-05-19/ed-1/seq-2/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} At Southern University she was listed as a market counselor, named Market Research Editor for World Mutual Exchange, Inc.{{cite news
| title = Thelma Gorham named Market Research Editor “Negro Reference Guide"
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder
| location = St. Paul, MN
| page = 6
| date = June 9, 1961
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016804/1961-06-09/ed-1/seq-6/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and produced a report for them.{{cite book
| title = Focus on the Negro Consumer Market |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| publisher = World Mutual Exchange
|series=American negro reference guide |volume=1 |number= 7-8
| date = 1961
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rmwLtwAACAAJ
| oclc = 4947889}}
By July Gorham was named as part of the Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly's Public Information group.{{cite news
| title = Baha'is name Southern Prof. to membership
| newspaper = State Times Advocate|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| page = 2
| date = Jul 15, 1961
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-thurston-gorham-appointed-public-information-service/xyznwarybynnqcvpyktgagojhoabddom_wma-gateway001_1686320017201
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Mrs Gorham gets Baha'i Press Post
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 7
| date = Jun 30, 1961
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125410937/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Note this was five years before Salvatore Pelle would serve full time in this capacity. Gorham also put together an exhibit on the Faith hosted at the Library of the Southern University.* {{cite news
| title = Youth Event Attracts Large Audience
| newspaper = Baha'i News |number=42|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 4
| date = Aug 1961
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:US_Supplement_42.pdf&page=4
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = "U" student gets information post
| newspaper = Star Tribune|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Minneapolis, Minnesota
| page = 64
| date = Jun 25, 1961
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125426426/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Also in July Gorham wrote an obituary and memorial article,{{cite news
| title = A Great Woman Passes Away |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Black Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Oklahoma City, OK
| page = 3
| date = Jul 7, 1961
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125426810/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} published a book review in New Orleans,{{cite news
| title = Book Review |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = The Louisiana Weekly|via=Newspapers.com
| location = New Orleans, Louisiana
| page = 12
| date = Jul 15, 1961
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125426866/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and another book review was published of Harris’ The Quest for Equality.{{cite journal
| title = Harris, Robert J. The Quest for Equality…, (Book Review) |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| journal = Journalism Quarterly |volume=28 |number=3|via=Archive.org
| page = 393-4
| date = 1961
| url = https://archive.org/details/sim_journalism-and-mass-communication-quarterly_summer-1961_38_3/page/393/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
In September, she attended a Kansas reunion of the staff of The Call,{{cite news
| title = Out of Town Re-Unioners
| newspaper = The Call|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Kansas City, Missouri
| page = 22
| date = Sep 1, 1961
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126112289/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and visited kin.{{cite news
| title = Many festivities given for Thelma T. Gorham
| newspaper = The Call|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Kansas City, Missouri
| page = 6
| date = Sep 15, 1961
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126112417/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
The winter of 1961-2 Gorham was going to talk in Hawaii, officially representing the Bahá'ís, and it was widely covered in print media.* {{cite news
| title = Southern Professor to speak in Hawaii
| newspaper = State Times Advocate|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| page = 46
| date = Nov 2, 1961
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-t-gorham-talk-hawaii/wjcaklpxrznilsuitxdobvfiyfvwyfcz_wma-gateway017_1686318429187
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Southern University Professor invited to Univ. of Hawaii
| newspaper = Advocate|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| page = 14
| date = Nov 2, 1961
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-t-gorham-going-hawaii-profile/njpxxkyeonorkrihddfvsoddvvsimdjo_wma-gateway011_1686317744529
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} The conference ran from November 5 to 9. The first meeting was 7:30pm, at the campus YWCA at which Gorham was introduced. Panels were held noon, and 3:10pm, at the Hemingway Lounge and in George Hall across each of November 6 to 9. There was a dance on November 9. The panel of speakers also appeared on the program “Conversations” with Betty Smyser on KHVH-TV from 10:15pm on November 12.{{cite news
| title = Religion Confab Begins
| newspaper = Ka Leo O
| location = Hawaii, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii
| page = 1 |via= University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library
| date = Nov 3, 1961 }} Classroom visits were possible November 6- 9 from 8am to noon if teachers invited the panelists, and nightly in faculty homes November 6 to 7, as invited. It is known Gorham gave a talk "Democracy and Communism--a Baha'i View," to a history group, and "Baha'i--An Answer to Mental Stress," to a psychology seminar. The subject of her final talk for the public meeting was "Will Mankind Survive--How?”{{cite news
| title = Thelma Thurston Gorham Is Speaker in Honolulu |author= Shirley Lombard
| newspaper = New Pittsburgh Courier (National edition)
| location = Pittsburgh, PA
| page = 14
| date = 23 Dec 1961 }} Tuesday, November 7, Gorham and the panel appeared for “The Death of God” in the Hemingway Lounge; it was a “Music and Religion: Jazz, its Place in Religion Today” event. November 10 and 11 were holidays from the proceedings, and the “Conversations” show was on Sunday evening.* {{cite news
| title = Hide or Go Seek
| newspaper = Ka Leo O
| location = Hawaii, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii
| page = 2 |via= University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library
| date = Nov 3, 1961 }}
- {{cite news
| title = English Prof at Southern U to attend meet
| newspaper = State Times Advocate|via=GenalogyBank.com
| location = Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| page = 52
| date = Nov 2, 1961
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-t-gorham-going-hawaii/vjbjjcxzyegwpdphbonpjhrtfjxhqapn_wma-gateway008_1686318662420
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = University Conference on Religion scheduled
| newspaper = Honolulu Star-Bulletin|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Honolulu, Hawaii
| page = 6
| date = Nov 4, 1961
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126640386/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} While there Gorham was also interviewed and commented on White culture in the mainland.{{cite news
| title = Whites in Louisiana who favor integration seen afraid to say so
| newspaper = Honolulu Star-Bulletin|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Honolulu, Hawaii
| page = 33
| date = Nov 7, 1961
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126644216/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} There was other coverage…,* {{cite news
| title = Universal Faith called key to Man's survival
| newspaper = Honolulu Star-Bulletin|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Honolulu, Hawaii
| page = 2
| date = Nov 12, 1961
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126640457/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = La. Prof to attend U. of Hawaii Conference
| newspaper = JET
| page = 24
| date = Nov 23, 1961
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=prMDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA24&pg=PA24
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Thelma Gorham lectures at Hawaii 'U' Religious Confab
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder|via=GenalogyBannk.com
| location = St. Paul, Minnesota
| page = 11
| date = Dec 15, 1961
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-thurston-gorham-going-hawaii/auddusiwfjflfjgcpllvcdsifrsuwask_wma-gateway011_1686321499688
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Further coverage….* {{cite news
| title = Thelma Gorham lectures at Hawaii "U" Religious Confab
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder|via=ChroniclingAmerica.LOC.gov
| location = St. Paul, MN
| page = 9
| date = December 15, 1961
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016804/1961-12-15/ed-1/seq-9/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Thelma Gorham visits Hawaii
| newspaper = The Call|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Kansas City, Missouri
| page = 7
| date = Dec 29, 1961
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126112634/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Mrs. Thelma Thurston Gorham visits in Hawaii
| newspaper = Arizona Sun|via=ChroniclingAmerica.LOC.gov
| location = Phoenix, AZ
| page = 4
| date = March 15, 1962
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84021917/1962-03-15/ed-1/seq-3/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Successful Teaching Activities of Students Cited by College Bureau; Stimulating Events at Other Collect Campuses
| newspaper = Baha'i News |number=371|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 15
| date = Feb 1962
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_371.pdf&page=15
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Baha'i in the News; An eventful, previously reported visit…
| newspaper = Baha'i News |number=374|via=Bahai.Works
| pages = 11-2
| date = May 1962
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_374.pdf&page=11
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Betty Smyser was the first woman on Hawaii TV and a local pioneer in the talk news on tv.* {{cite web
| title = Extra! A brief chronicle of the newspapers and newspeople who have shaped more than 150 years of Hawaii's Journalism History |author= Tom Brislin
| url = https://www2.hawaii.edu/~tbrislin/jourhist.html
| website = University of Hawaii at Manoa
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Smyser and ‘Conversation’ were pioneers in television |author=A.J. McWhorter
| newspaper = Star-Advertiser
| location = Hawaii
| date = May 13, 2012
| url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230621121234/https://www.staradvertiser.com/2012/05/13/features/looking-back/smyser-and-conversation-were-pioneers-in-television/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
Back on the mainland, Gorham served on the 1961-2 Bahá'í National Interracial Service Committee, which held meetings in Nashville, Tennessee, arranging the Bahá'i community reaching out to African American leaders and developing a booklet "Fifty Years of Race Amity Among the Bahá'ís of the United States" by Allan Ward, hoping to use it in a Centennial Observance of the Emancipation Proclamation to be held in 1963. The National Spiritual Assembly also sponsored a "Short Course in Human Relation," at conferences held at the end of February which regularly presented a non-Bahá'í black speaker invited by local assemblies for these conferences.{{cite conference
| title = Bahá'í Interracial Service|via=Bahai.Works
| book-title = Annual Report
| pages = 22-3
| publisher = National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States
| date = 1962
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:1961-1962_Annual_Report.pdf&page=22
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
In January 1962, Gorham among faculty asking for Southern University to reconsider it's policy about students in protests.{{cite news
| title = Southern Profs ask reappraisal of policy here
| newspaper = Advocate|via=GenealogyBank.com
| location = Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| pages = 1, [https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-t-gorham-among-faculty-university-policy-protests-ii/dwunwwfnetkcxdsativyojpmovmwyrpi_wma-gateway003_1686319001012 2]
| date = Jan 29, 1962
| url = https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/bahai-thelma-t-gorham-among-faculty-university-policy-protestsi/crtzgiqgkjufelsltibnckzuatmvckbu_wma-gateway001_1686318835673
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
In 1962 Gorham had a poem published in Phylon, a semi-annual peer-reviewed academic journal covering culture in the United States from an African-American perspective:
Freedom{{cite journal| last=Gorham |first= Thelma Thurston
| title = Freedom
| journal = Phylon |volume=23 |number=3
| location =
| page = 239 |doi=10.2307/273802
| date = 1962}}
This is freedom: a startled, fleeing rabbit,
The pure delight in a thing of beauty,
The yielding of discipline to force of habit;
The neglect by men of a thing called "duty”
To walk alone in majestic and wond'rous silence,
And, like Thoreau, philosophize and ponder
On the things that move ment to cruel violence,
While other phenomena excite only wonder.
This is freedom: a child's quick laughter,
A lilting dance, a bird's clear plaint,
The sudden surge to action that come after
The soft-spoken words of some soapbox saint;
Freedom is everything that oppressors abhor,
And one of life's few things worth fighting for.
In June she was visible visiting in Oklahoma City,{{cite magazine
| title = Travelogue
| magazine = Jet
| page = 40
| date = Aug 23, 1962
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ab0DAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA40&pg=PA40
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and gave a talk for the Race Unity Day observance of the community in Kansas City.* {{cite news
| title = Bahai's(sic) observe Race Amity Day
| newspaper = The Call|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Kansas City, Missouri
| page = 5
| date = Jun 22, 1962
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126112712/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Mrs. Thelma Thurston Gorham visits in City
| newspaper = The Call|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Kansas City, Missouri
| page = 6
| date = Jun 29, 1962
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126112880/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}} During 1962-3 she worked with the Opportunities Industrialization Center in Kansas City, Missouri, while being a teacher at Central High School. That year Gorham also served on the South Central States Area Teaching Committee for Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska; they held more-than-monthly meetings and produced a monthly bulletin,* {{cite conference
| title = South Central States|via=Bahai.Works
| book-title = Annual Report 1962-3
| pages = 16-7
| publisher = National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States
| date = 1963
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:1962-1963_Annual_Report.pdf&page=16
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Baha'i Directory Changes; Additions to Committees
| newspaper = US Supplement to Baha'i News |number=60|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 6
| date = Feb 1963
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:US_Supplement_60.pdf&page=6
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and was listed again for the spring of 1963.{{cite news
| title = Baha'i Directory Changes; Additions to Committees
| newspaper = US Supplement to Baha'i News |number=60|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 6
| date = Feb 1963
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:US_Supplement_60.pdf&page=6
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} That winter 1962-3 she was again visible visiting in Oklahoma & Kansas City,{{cite news
| title = Weekending in Tulsa…
| newspaper = The Call|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Kansas City, Missouri
| page = 6
| date = Feb 15, 1963
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126116885/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and was back in April speaking on Witchita State University campus on “The Challenge of World Unity”.{{cite news
| title = Around the Campus; Baha'i Lecture
| newspaper = The Sunflower|via=Wichita.EDU
| location = Witchita, Kansas
| page = 4
| date = April 5, 1963
| url = https://soar.wichita.edu/bitstream/handle/10057/21486/wsu_uaSunflower_1963-04-05.pdf?sequence=4
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
The summer of 1963, Gorham helped produce a St. Stephen Baptist Church history - she edited and wrote an introduction, and spoke at a June evening service of the church's Women’s Day program.{{cite book
| title = Meeting the Challenge of Change - A Sixty-Year History of the St. Stephen Baptist Church |editor= Thelma Thurston Gorham in collaboration with members of the History Committee
| publisher = Grimes-Joyce Printing Company
| location = Kansas City, Missouri
| page = xiii–uiv, 320
| date = 1963
| url = https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4104844&view=1up&seq=7
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Gorham and son were noted living in Kansas City and visited in Minneapolis in July as guests of Mrs. Fern Hawkins,{{cite news
| title = Social and Personal; Minneapolis; Missouri Visitors
| newspaper = Minneapolis Spokesman|via=ChroniclingAmerica.LOC.gov
| location = Minneapolis, MN
| page = 5
| date = July 18, 1963
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025247/1963-07-18/ed-1/seq-5/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and also doing studies for her PhD, and received at various luncheons as well as giving three Bahá'í firesides at a couple homes in August - Judy Phillips’, Mrs. John Hick - including comments and slides about activities in The South including challenges from the KKK.* {{cite news
| title = Thelma Gorham & son end three week visit here
| newspaper = St. Paul Recorder|via=ChroniclingAmerica.LOC.gov
| location = St. Paul, MN
| page = 8
| date = August 8, 1963
| url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016804/1963-08-08/ed-1/seq-8/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Visit Minneapolis|via=Newspapers.com
| newspaper = The Call
| location = Kansas City, Missouri
| page = 6
| date = Aug 16, 1963
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126117251/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} An article of Gorham's from U.S. Negro World was published as a book, The Negro Press Review or The Negro press: past, present and future, was published,{{cite book
| last = Gorham
| first = Thelma Thurston
| title = The Negro Press: Past, Present and Future
| date = 1963
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LPHxPAAACAAJ
| oclc = 27051513}} made into a directory,{{cite book
| last = Gorham
| first = Thelma Thurston
| title = 1967 directory of U.S. Negro newspapers, magazines & periodicals in 42 states
| publisher = US Negro World
| date = 1967
| location = New York
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xpWLuAAACAAJ
| oclc = 83151572}} and became a report.{{cite book
| last = Gorham
| first = Thelma Thurston
| title = The Negro Press ; Past, Present & Future: A Documentary Research Report 1827-1967
| publisher = U.S. Negro World
| date = 1968
| location = New York
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TI0bvgAACAAJ
| oclc = 19789734}}
=Starting at Florida A&M University=
The fall of 1963 Gorham started with the Florida Agriculture & Mechanical University, (FAMU), as an associate professor. When she moved there with her son, she was listed as an isolated member of the religion;{{Citation
| title =State Or Electoral District Voting List
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = Oct 1, 1964
| page=4
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/10657}} there was no Bahá'´í spiritual assembly. The closest one was probably Duval County on the Atlantic coast (Jacksonville.){{cite book
| title = The Bahá'í World |series=An International Record |volume= 13 |chapter=Bahá'í Directory 1962-1963; Directory of localities where Bahá'ís reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States of America|via=Bahai.Works
| publisher = Universal House of Justice
| location = Haifa, Israel
| pages = 1036–1059
|isbn= 9780853980995
| oclc= 933759422
| date = 1980 |orig-date=1970
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:BW_Volume13.pdf&page=1078
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023 }} She did register as a group,{{cite book
| title = The Bahá'í World |series=An International Record |volume= 13 |chapter=Bahá'í Directory 1962-1963; Directory of localities where Bahá'ís reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States of America
| publisher = Universal House of Justice
| location = Haifa, Israel
| pages = 1036–1059
|isbn= 9780853980995
| oclc= 933759422
| date = 1980 |orig-date=1970
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:BW_Volume13.pdf&page=1083
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} but they also had no Center - it’s first came in 1997.{{cite news
| title = The Baha'i Faith
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 55
| date = Nov 7, 1997
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126271812/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} One of her first public actions for the University was as Director of FAMU Public Relations, where she published information on disciplinary actions the university took against more than a hundred students involved in protests with judgments leveled by court actions.{{cite web
| title = For Immediate Release |author1= Thelma T. Gorham |author2= D. C. Collington
| url = https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:764298
| publisher = Florida State University Digital Library
| date = Oct 21, 1963
| access-date =Nov 24, 2023 }} In November she was still noted working with Set-Up magazine out of St. Louis.{{cite magazine
| title = Journalism; New Business Monthly published in St. Louis
| magazine = Jet
| page = 49
| date = Nov 26, 1963
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0b8DAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA49&pg=PA49
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
January 1964 FAMU staff, including Gorham and students, led by the marching band, went on a trip to Nassau welcomed by the Kiwanis Club and a local club of citizen leaders and were received by the Governor at the state mansion, among other receptions that were held.{{cite news
| title = Exchange
| newspaper = Gainesville Sun|via=UFLib.UFL.EDU
| location = Gainesville, FL
| page = 5
| date = January 5, 1964
| url = https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00079931/00007/zoom/4
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In March, she was the publicity coordinator and MC of the 14th FAMU Interscholastic Press Workshop Conference.* {{cite news
| title = Press Workshop begins Thursday on A&M Campus
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 14
| date = Mar 3, 1964
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126272944/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Colored News, B. F. Childs; Interscholastic Workshop
| newspaper = Gainesville Sun|via=UFLib.UFL.EDU
| location = Gainesville, FL
| page = 5
| date = March 4, 1964
| url = https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00079931/00061/zoom/4
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title =Newspapers… 'Recorders of the Changing Scene' Florida A&M Workshop Theme
| newspaper = Detroit Tribune|via=DIGMichNews.CMich.EDU
| location = Detroit, MI
| page = 5
| date = 28 March 1964
| url = https://digmichnews.cmich.edu/cgi-bin/michigan?a=d&d=WayneDTRBN19640328-01.1.5
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} That September Gorham suffered a household robery.{{cite news
| title = Theft reported
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 3
| date = Sep 1, 1964
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126272971/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In November Gorham gave a talk for American Education Week in Panama City.* {{cite news
| title = Mrs Gorham sets speech
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 1
| date = Nov 7, 1964
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126273106/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{Citation
| title =Newspaper Clipping "Educators to Hear FAMU's Info Director"
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = November 14, 1964
| year = 2024
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/10901}}
January 1965 Gorham was publicity director during the visit of Nat and Julian Adderly, famous FAMU alumni musicians.{{cite news
| title =Band Alumni fetes fames Marching Unit Official
| newspaper = Florida Star|via=UFLib/UFL.EDU
| location = Jacksonville, FL
| page = 7
| date = January 23, 1965
| url = https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00028362/01571/zoom/6
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In her first documented appearance in Bahá'í circumstances in Tallahassee thus far specified, in Spring 1965 Gorham introduced Terah Cowart Smith at an event in Tallahassee at a Jack and Jill of America meeting at FAMU.{{cite news
| title = News Briefs; Mrs. Terah Cowart-Smith of Greensboro…
| newspaper = Baha'i News |number=411|via=Bahao.Works
| page = 14
| date = June 1965
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_411.pdf&page=14
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} There was also a social reception among women FAMU leadership in July,{{cite news
| title = First Lady Returns Courtesy
| newspaper = Florida Star|via=UFLib.UFL.EDU
| location = Jacksonville, FL
| page = 7
| date = July 3, 1965
| url = https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00028362/01594/zoom/6
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and she was a cosigner of plea to stop pool segregation in the city.{{cite news
| title = Please open our pools
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 8
| date = Jul 18, 1965
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/53001846/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
It is also known that Gorham sent FAMU students with journalism interests to work with The Capital Outlook newspaper as well as contributed articles of her own, and acted as editor sometimes. Some other mentions are:{{cite thesis |last=Gordon |first=Yanela Natacha |date=2005 |title= Preserver of the Press: The Historical Mission and Evolution of the Capital Outlook Newspaper |url= https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:182314/datastream/PDF/view |degree= Masters of Arts |publisher=Dept of History, Florida State University Libraries |pages= 32, 39, 48-9, 65|oclc= 61717711 |access-date=}}
- Gorham was the Wedding Coordinator for Steve and Nickie Beasley during their July 1965.{{fact}}
- Sharon Woodson-Bryant was recommended by Gorham for a Kellogg grant when she was granted and taught at FAMU and was an owner of The Capital Outlook though the date is not known.{{fact}}
That July, scholarly commentary of Gorham began to appear, starting with an early Who's Who listing of her at FAMU.* {{cite news
| title = Around A&M; Mrs Thelma T. Gorham…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 5
| date = Apr 19, 1965
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126273268/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Who's Who lists six from FAMU
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 2
| date = Jul 24, 1965
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126273629/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} The same month, Gorham received a thank you from FAMU Dean Mahlon Rhaney for specing out two advanced undergraduate classes, and six in total, on journalism for the university when that was not her job but the need was urgent.{{Citation
| title =Letter Mahlon C. Rhaney to Thelma Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = July 16, 1965
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6296}} In November, Gorham gave a talk at the Junior College for Education Week.{{cite news
| title = SRJC notes Education Week
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 2
| date = Nov 6, 1965
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126273780/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
In March 1966, Gorham introduced the speaker for Negro History Week in Tallahassee,{{cite news
| title = Negroes advised to have faith in themselves
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 3
| date = Mar 5, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126273978/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and represented University of Minnesota at the inauguration of Florida State University(FSU) president John Champion.{{cite news
| title = Negroes attend inaugural of Dr. Champion
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 3
| date = Mar 26, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126274045/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In April Gorham was among the representatives at a regional conference of the Public Relations Association,{{cite news
| title = A&M officials attend meets
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 9
| date = Apr 6, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126274134/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and co-chaired the FAMU Hospital conference.* {{cite news
| title = FAMU sets hospital meeting
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 9
| date = Jun 19, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126274224/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Hospital group meets on problem
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 2
| date = Jun 25, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126274438/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In June there was coverage of expanding journalism classes at FAMU,* {{cite news
| title = On the Campus - Journalism stepped up |author= Barbara Widmar
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 11
| date = Jun 24, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126274354/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = FAMU Newspaper Editor Cited
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 3
| date = Aug 6, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126274660/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and Gorham was promoted to full-time staff.* {{cite news
| title = Promote Two in PR Department at FAMU
| newspaper = JET
| page = 54
| date = Jul 28, 1986
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=D7oDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA54&pg=PA54
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Rattler editor gets recognition
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 2
| date = Jul 23, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126274600/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} And son Darryl T. Gorham was given an award too.{{cite news
| title = Kappa Scholarship Winner
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 3
| date = Jul 2, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126274489/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Gorham attended her Class of 1931 reunion for her Sumner High School in July.{{Citation
| title =Sumner High School Class of 1931 Thirty-Fifth Anniversary Reunion Program, 1966
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = July 1966
| year = 2024
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/10895 }} In September Gorham spoke for World Peace Day,* {{cite news
| title = Speaker Announced
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 12
| date = Sep 18, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126210993/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Mrs. Gorham was Peace Day speaker
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 5
| date = Oct 1, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126211034/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and was listed as a student advisor, and the faculty leader with editors of student press at association conference,{{cite news
| title = FAMU editors a conference
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 11
| date = Oct 20, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126274828/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and back to be part of Jack and Jill observance of UN Day,{{cite news
| title = Here and There
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 20
| date = Oct 23, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126274918/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} where she and son were part of a panel of the Bahá'ís,{{cite news
| title = UN Panel Scheduled Sunday
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page =6
| date = Oct 29, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126228092/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and Gorham was elected president of Friends of FAMU Hospital.{{cite news
| title = FAMU Hospital meeting tonight
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = Oct 28, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126274964/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In November Gorham assisted the LeMoyne Art Gallery observance of UN Day,{{cite news
| title = Appreciation Tea held at LeMoyne
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 7
| date = Nov 8, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126275041/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and chaired a Jack and Jill UN Tea.{{cite news
| title = 'UN on Parade' fashions shown
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 1
| date = Nov 19, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126275130/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} That December, Gorham was part of a panel talk for Human Rights Day.* {{cite news
| title = 'World Faith for Modern Man' is topic
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 7
| date = Dec 10, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126211069/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = 'World Faith for Modern Man' is topic
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 52
| date = Dec 11, 1966
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126275217/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
January 1967 Gorham was listed as an officer in Delta Kappa Alpha Sorority chapter,{{cite news
| title = Clubs-- Events
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 1
| date = Jan 21, 1967
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126275386/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}} and in February Darryl gave a talk on campus,{{cite news
| title = Going to Church; Baha'i Faith
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = Feb 4, 1967
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126211154/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}} and for the Unitarian Universalists.{{cite news
| title = Unitarian Church
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = Feb 4, 1967
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126275301/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and a couple weeks later Gorham gave a talk at a meeting for the Bahá'í community,{{cite news
| title = Going to Church; Baha'i Faith
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 8
| date = Feb 18, 1967
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126211205/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}} followed by a talk by her son Darryl Gorham in early March.{{cite news
| title = Baha'i Faith
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 8
| date = Mar 11, 1967
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126211287/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} That same day, Gorham portrayed the Fast in an article published in The Tallahassee Democrat.{{cite news
| title = Baha'i Faith members observing 19-day Fast |author= Thelma T. Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 8
| date = Mar 11, 1967
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126275500/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} A week later, Gorham gave a talk at a meeting entitled "The Veils That Cloud Men's Vision",{{cite news
| title = Baha'i Faith
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 11
| date = Mar 18, 1967
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126211313/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} followed by another one "The 124th Year of the New Age is Here!”.{{cite news
| title = Going to Church; Baha'i Faith
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 12
| date = Mar 25, 1967
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126211349/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
In June, Gorham represented the Friends of FAMU Hospital, making a formal request that staff be retained under new county management,* {{cite news
| title = County Zoning requests protested at Board meet
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 9
| date = Jun 13, 1967
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126275704/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Commissioners KO zoning request
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 7
| date = Jun 14, 1967
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126275816/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and for July she was asked to preside at the town's Human Relations Council by its president.{{Citation
| title =Letter from Robert A. Spivey to Thelma Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = June 7, 1967
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6306}} In October Gorham was among UNA attendees of the observance of UN Week.{{cite news
| title = At LeMoyne Art Foundation - Reception will climax UN Week
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 25
| date = Oct 29, 1967
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126275870/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In November David West was noted in Tallahassee for a World Peace Day.{{cite news
| title = World Peace Day observed in Many Ways
| newspaper = Baha'i News |number=440|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 19
| date = Nov 1967
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_440.pdf&page=19
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In December, Gorham was mentioned amid editorship strife at FAMU.{{cite news
| title = Gore suspends Dean - Student Dissension flares up at A&M |author= Terry Frost
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 11
| date = Dec 12, 1967
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126276017/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
January 20, 1968, there was a State Bahá'í Youth Conference in Tallahassee, Florida who elected a council that was given the task of setting the April Florida Bahá'í Spring Institute. Some 70 attended the January integrated, mostly college-aged, youth conference and also led some of theing one on "Blac classes, includk Power.” Recreation for the conference included areas at FSU. It is unstated if the Gorhams went.{{cite news
| title = Florida Youth - A Beehive of Liveliness
| newspaper = National Baha'i Review |author= Vinson Jamir|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 6
| date = Jun 1968
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:National_Bahai_Review_6.pdf&page=6
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In February Gorham received a $500 for FAMU journalism from Inez Kaiser, president of Inez Kaiser and Associates of Kansas City, Missouri, from Seven-Up Company of St. Louis, during the Interscholastic Press Workshop at FAMU creating the "Thelma Thurston Gorham Scholarship”.* {{cite news
| title = Another Check -- FAMU
| newspaper = Florida Star|via=UFLib.UFL.EDU
| location = Jacksonville FL
| page = 3
| date = February 24, 1968
| url = https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00028362/00754/zoom/2
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite magazine
| title = World
| magazine = Jet
| page = 39
| date = Mar 14, 1968
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GbgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA39&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi9wqzL95z_AhVmlGoFHVgeBgA4ChDoAXoECAIQAg
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} There was a Race Unity observance in Tallahassee in the summer of 1968.{{cite news
| title = Similar Race Unity Day…
| newspaper = Baha'i News |number=450|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 23
| date = Sep 1968
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_450.pdf&page=23
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} However Gorham attended a Bahá'í summer school near Duluth,{{Citation
| title =Baha'i Summer School Camp at Hanging Horn
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = August, 1968
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/2386}} and around 1968-71, Gorham was at the University of Minnesota working on her PhD at least part of the time. By November, she had written her son that she took a job with the Twin Cities Opportunities Industrialization Center (TCOIC) because she feared it closing, suited her skillset, and that its work was highly needed, closing saying "Take care of yourself and be a good Baha'i youth."{{Citation
| title =Letter from Thelma Gorham to Darryl Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = November 30, 1968
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6784 }} Meanwhile back in Tallahassee there was an Birth of Bahá'u'lláh observance.{{cite news
| title = Unusual Headline
| newspaper = National Baha'i Review |number=15|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 3
| date = March 1969
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:National_Bahai_Review_15.pdf&page=5
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} November was also a transition to Gorham starting at the TCOIC.* {{Citation
| title =Memo from Clifford L. Johnson to Thelma T. Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = November 15, 1968
| year = 2024
|page=1
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9437 }}
- {{Citation
| title =Memo from Thelma T. Gorham to Clifford L. Johnson
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = November 18, 1968
| year = 2024
|page=1
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9438 }} However she did attend the Tennessee state Bahá'í convention in December{{Citation
| title =Baha'i State Convention Plymouth Ave, North Memphis,
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = December 1968
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/2384 }} In Spring 1969 there was a Bahá'í conference at FAMU.* {{cite news
| title = 3 Day Session
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 5
| date = Apr 12, 1969
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126231000/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Baha'i Proclamation Program
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 45
| date = Apr 13, 1969
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126231181/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} She was praised for her work.{{Citation
| title =Editorial/Opinion Page: Access to the TCOIC doorway (Minneapolis Star clipping)
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = June 30, 1969
| year = 2024
|page=1
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/3834}}
Back in Tallahassee, a September Race Unity observance was held again.{{cite news
| title = Other observances
| newspaper = Baha'i News |number=462|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 20
| date = Sep 1969
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_462.pdf&page=20
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Tallahassee had not yet achieved assembly status.{{cite news
| title = Strategy for Victory - Phase Two
| newspaper = National Baha'i Review |number=22|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 6
| date = Oct 1969
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:National_Bahai_Review_22.pdf&page=6
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} That December there was a Human Rights Day panel including Darryl Gorham.{{cite news
| title = Baha'i Faith to have 'Human Rights' panel
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 9
| date = Dec 6, 1969
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126231994/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} She applied for a passport listing her address in Minneapolis in 1970 and including an intention to travel into some African countries,{{Citation
| title =Thelma T. Gorham Passport and Visa Application Documents
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = 1970
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6940}} and had materials of a guided tour.* {{Citation
| title =Letter from Valo JorDan and Leon H. Sullivan to OIC USA Executive Director
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = March 25, 1970
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6938 }}
- {{Citation
| title =Letter and Check from Thelma T. Gorham to Valo JorDan
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = June 3, 1970
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6927 }} At the time, the War of Attrition of was ending between Egypt and Israel so any plans of pilgrimage would have been in limbo. While Gorham was away, the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Tallahassee was elected in 1970.{{cite news
| title = First local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Tallahassee
| newspaper = Baha'i News |number=473|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 24
| date = Aug 1970
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_473.pdf&page=24
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Around this time that Assembly produced a prayer book.{{cite book
| title =The Baha'i World |chapter=4.28, Baha'i Prayers |via=Bahai.Works
| publisher = Universal House of Justice
| series = An International Record
| volume = 18
| date = 1986
| location = Haifa
| page = 874
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:BW_Volume18.pdf&page=895
| isbn = 0853982341 }} That summer, Gorham joined the Viking Chapter of the American Business Women's Association while being listed as executive director of Twin Cities Opportunities Industrialization Center in Minneapolis, pursuing her doctorate and working as a faculty of the University of Minnesota.{{cite magazine
| title = Gerri Major's Society; Cocktail Chit Chat
| magazine = JET
| page = 40
| date = Jul 2, 1970
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ODgDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA40&pg=PA40
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Her son married in July too.{{cite magazine
| title = Gerri Major's Society; Weddings
| magazine = JET
| page = 40
| date = Jul 9, 1970
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NjgDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA40&pg=PA40
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In October a conference on promoting the religion was held in Gainesville and they chose Tallahassee for a project.{{cite news
| title = Florida - Mass Teaching Conference
| newspaper = National Baha'i Review |number=34
| page = 7
| date = Oct 1970
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:National_Bahai_Review_34.pdf&page=7
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
Pictures of her attending Bahá'í winter school in the Wisconsin-Minnesota area, dated January 1971.* {{Citation
| title =Baha'i Summer School in Frontenac, Wisconsin, 1971
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = January 1971
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/2390 }}
- {{Citation
| title =Baha'i Summer School in Frontenac, Wisconsin, 1971
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = January 1971
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/2391 }} "It's Just the Beginning" was on a tv station in Tallahassee in March 1971.{{cite news
| title = Baha'i films reaching hundreds of thousands
| newspaper = The American Bahá'í|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 3
| date = Mar 1971
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:The_American_Bahá’í_March_1971.pdf&page=4
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} However, she was asked to resign from TCOIC. In private there were accusations of a senior colleague's inappropriate behavior, but demands were made for her immediate resignation by February, 1971, a process completed my early May,* {{Citation
| title =Letter from Thelma T. Gorham to John F. Bolger
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = March 10, 1971
| year = 2024
|page=1
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/4593}}
- {{Citation
| title =Letter from Thelma T. Gorham to John F. Bolger
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = March 25, 1971
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/4595}}
- {{Citation
| title =Letter from Thelma T. Gorham to Samuel J. Cornelius
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = April 25, 1971
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/4597 }}
- {{Citation
| title =Letter from Thelma T. Gorham to John F. Bolger
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = May 2, 1971
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/4599}}
- {{Citation
| title =Two Letters from John F. Bolger to Thelma T. Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = May 7, 1971
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/4600 }} though financial closure was pending into June.{{Citation
| title =Letter from Thelma T. Gorham to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = June 21, 1971
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/4584 }} Publicly, that spring Gorham was listed as a guest lecturer with the Comparative Religions of the Twenthieth Century by Dr. Henry Allen at the Community School of Jewish Studies in Minneapolis, MN.{{Citation
| title =List of Faculty and Courses Offered in Spring 1971 at the Community School of Jewish Studies
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = Spring 1971
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9729 }} That April, a regional Bahá'í summer school was held in Tallahassee with Robert Entzminger as registrar.{{cite news
| title = Baha'i Summer Schools - 1971
| newspaper = National Baha'i Review |number=40|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 4
| date = Apr 1971
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:National_Bahai_Review_40.pdf&page=4
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} There is mention that Gorham undertook a Bahá'í pilgrimage by the later 1971.{{cite magazine
| title = Gerri Major's Society World; Travelogue
| magazine = JET
| page = 38
| date = Sep 2, 1971
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yjcDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA38&pg=PA38
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Pictures of hers from Jerusalem and Haifa and other sites still exist, including the Shrine of the Bab.* {{Citation
| title =Jerusalem, 1971
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = 1971
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/7478 }}
- {{Citation
| title =Jerusalem, November 1971 (ed - the Shrine of the Báb is visible on page 6)
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = November 1971
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/7472}}
- {{Citation
| title =Haifa
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = July 1971
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/2394 }}
- {{Citation
| title =Haifa
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = July 1971
| year = 2024
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/2395 }} Probably on the way back, she also stopped to see the Bahá'í Temple in Frankfurt, Germany,{{Citation
| title =Trip to Frankfurt Temple of Langenheim
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = July 1971
| year = 2024
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/2396 }} and in London, UK.{{Citation
| title =NABWA Members
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = July 1971
| year = 2024
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/2393}} At some unknown date, perhaps part of the same travel plans, she stopped to see the Wilmette Bahá'í House of Worship.{{Citation
| title =Baháʼí House of Worship Gardens
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = unknown
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/7462}} There is also another undated trip, possibly around this decade to Green Acre Bahá'í School of which pictures survive including several with Stanwood Cobb as a very elderly man.{{Citation
| title =Green Acre Baháʼí Center of Learning
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = unknown
| pages=1,3-6 (esp 6)
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/7463 }} In September, she suffered a car accident and spent a month in a hospital before returning to FAMU.{{Citation
| title =Letter from Thelma Gorham to Daako Damptey
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = April 21, 1972
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/5617 }} Pictures of her attending Bahá'í winter school the end of 1971 into January 1972 in Florida.{{Citation
| title =Baha'i Winter School Leesburg, Florida,
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = December 1971-January 1972
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/2400 }}
=Returning to Tallahassee=
When Gorham returned to Tallahassee by spring 1972, she was elected to the assembly,{{cite news
| title = John Turner of Pine Ridge…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = May 20, 1972
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahais-elect-assem/126253732/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and Gorham spoke at and hosted the community observance of the Martyrdom of the Báb.{{cite news
| title = Observance of…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = Jul 8, 1972
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahais-observe-mar/125427883/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In September Gorham gave a talk for the Tallahassee Chapter of American Business Women's Association,{{cite news
| title = Speaker Set
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 10
| date = Sep 12, 1972
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126276764/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and Gorham was again mentioned in several Who's Who reviews.{{cite news
| title = Thelma Gorham…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 8
| date = Nov 13, 1972
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126277434/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Come January 1973, Gorham was named secretary of the Tallahassee Spiritual Assembly,{{cite news
| title = Baha'i Directory Changes; Assembly Secretaries; Florida
| newspaper = National Bahá'í Review |number=61
| page = 6
| date = Jan 1973
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:National_Bahai_Review_61.pdf&page=6
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} though also as a jeopardized assembly with less than nine members.* {{cite news
| title = Assemblies in Jeopardy
| newspaper = National Baha'i Review |number=61
| page = 5
| date = Jan 1973
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:National_Bahai_Review_61.pdf&page=5
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Assemblies in Jeopardy
| newspaper = National Baha'i Review |number=62
| page = 6
| date = Feb 1973
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:National_Bahai_Review_62.pdf&page=6
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Assemblies in Jeopardy
| newspaper = National Baha'i Review |number=63
| page = 3
| date = March 1973
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:National_Bahai_Review_63.pdf&page=3
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}} In March Gorham gave a talk for the local Urban League.* {{cite news
| title = What's Happening in Town; Tallahassee Urban League Guild
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 9
| date = Mar 5, 1973
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126278166/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Urban League Pageant sponsored by League
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = Mar 26, 1973
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126278300/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} The Assembly was preserved and Gorham was elected vice-chair.{{cite news
| title = Assembly Elects Officers
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = May 12, 1973
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahais-elect-assem/126278396/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Glenford Mitchell, acting as secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, sent a letter of appreciation for Gorham's assistance over the previous year on the Public Information Committee and its being absorbed into the National Bahá'í Information Committee.{{Citation
| title =Letter from Glenford E. Mitchell to Thelma T. Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = June 8, 1973
| year = 2024
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/10757 }} The Secretary of Assembly was Gayle Keller.{{cite news
| title = Directory Changes; Assembly Secretaries
| newspaper = National Baha'i Review |number=70
| page = 6
| date = Nov 1973
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:National_Bahai_Review_70.pdf&page=6
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} In December, Gorham was in a car accident at Orange St and Wahnish St.,{{cite news
| title = Leon News of Record; City Accidents; Thursday; 3:38pm…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 31
| date = Dec 26, 1973
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126271191/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} which was immediately outside Bethel AME Church where her mother was a member.
In February 1974 Gorham gave a talk at FAMU with slides of her visit to Africa and her pilgrimage.{{cite news
| title = FAMU celebrates religion all week
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 12
| date = Feb 16, 1974
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126278511/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Gorham was again elected vice-chair of the assembly.{{cite news
| title = Baha'i Community
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 11
| date = May 18, 1974
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahais-elect-assem/126278614/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
Though there was no publicity at the time, in 1974 Gorham sued FAMU to be head of the new journalism department she had long worked to build.* {{cite news
| title = Award L Ruggles and FAMU will each receive $10,000
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 4
| date = Mar 24, 1999
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gor/126329096/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{Citation
| title =Letter from Thelma T. Gorham to William Thomas
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = June 27, 1974
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9613 }} There was some feedback that Gorham could initiate the program, but a white man should be hired with a PhD to chair the new department{{Citation
| title =Memo from Lawrence A. Tanzi to Allan Tucker
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = January 21, 1974
| year = 2024
|page=1
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9489 }} by a reviewer at the state level,{{cite news
| title = Tanzi leaves FTU to work with BOR
| newspaper = Future,
| location = Orlando, FL
| page = 3
| publisher = Florida Technical University
| date = Apr 6, 1973
| url = https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1158&context=centralfloridafuture
| access-date = Feb 24, 2024}} and there was mention she was also still working on her PhD on the life and career of Thurgood Marshall.{{cite magazine
| title = Gerri Major's Society World; Cocktail Chit Chat
| magazine = JET
| page = 38
| date = Aug 22, 1974
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5coDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA38&pg=PA38
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Gorham initiated a complaint and also prepared a letter to the Regional Civil Rights Director of the Federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare.{{Citation
| title =Letter from Thelma Gorham to William Thomas, no date
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = (before) June 27, 1974
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6266}} Gorham also sought other positions in 1974: a Kansas City school system application,{{Citation
| title =Kansas City, Missouri School District Application
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = July 15, 1974
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/7094 }} a different position at FAMU,{{Citation
| title =Letter from B. B. Archer to Thelma T. Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = August 27, 1974
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9616}} an application to work with the state Extension Service.{{Citation
| title =Florida Cooperative Extension Service
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = Aug 12, 1974
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/7129 }} and a Florida State University though no opening existed, though she was acknowledged as "highly desirable" and "well qualified".{{Citation
| title =Memo from Theodore Clevenger Jr. (Office of the Provost of Florida State University) to Thomas Hoffer (ed - cc Thelma Gorham)
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = September 10, 1974
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9686 }} That summer she sent a notice to FAMU professors of an imminent academic publication of hers,{{Citation
| title =Memo from Thelma T. Gorham to Various Professors; Memorandum
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = June 25, 1974
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9446}} and her son wrote in sympathy of her bad treatment in their views.{{Citation
| title =Letter from Darryl Gorham to Thelma Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = August 31, 1974
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6810}} Meanwhile that fall Gorham was among the attendees at St. Louis National Bahá'í Conference in August,{{cite news
| title = Area residents to attend national Baha'i meeting
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 7
| date = Aug 31, 1974
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahais-at-st-loui/60652955/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and mentioned with the Bahá'ís holding a World Peace Day panel with Gorham in mid-September, back from the St. Louis Conference.{{cite news
| title = Baha'i
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 8
| date = Sep 14, 1974
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahais-hold-world/60670587/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Gorham wrote a chapter entitled "The Black Press and Pressure Groups" in published in Perspectives of the Black Press by Henry LaBrie, III. The text was used in some college classes. A core statement of hers is that "No matter how one interprets or illustrates the interactions of the black media and its personnel with pressures in their environment, it is clear beyond the shadow of a doubt that the black press and black newsmen are sources of control as well as subjects of control.”* {{cite book
| editor= Henry LaBrie, III
| title = Perspectives of the Black Press |chapter=The Black Press and Pressure Groups |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| publisher = Mercer House Press
| date = 1974
| location = Kennebunckport, Maine
| url = https://archive.org/details/perspectivesofbl0000unse_g0f5/page/103/mode/1up
| isbn = 0890800006}}
- {{cite news
| title = The Black Press and Pressure Groups
| newspaper = The Miami Times
| location = Miami, FL
| page = 14
| date = June 5, 1975
| url = https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00028321/01927/zoom/13
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite journal
| last = Franklin
| first = Joyce, D. |editor=Henry G. la Brie III
| title = Perspectives of the Black Press: 1974 (book review)
| journal = The Library Quarterly
| volume = 46
| issue = 2
| page = 207
| date = 1976
| url =
| jstor =
| issn =
| access-date = }}
- {{cite news
| title = Writes Book
| newspaper = The Pittsburgh Courier
| location = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| page = 11
| date = Jun 21, 1975
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pittsburgh-courier-bahai-thelma-t/125428138/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} It was also mistakenly said she finished her PhD in 1971 from University of Minnesota. Gorham kept a newspaper clipping describing the Leon County observance of the Birth of the Báb from October 1974,{{Citation
| title = Baha'i (Tallahassee Democrat)
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = Oct 12, 1974
| year = 2024
| chapter = Baha'i
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item-set/2361|chapter-url=https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/12391}} and was in a Church Women United meeting included Bahá'ís Georgia Allen and herself (who was there representing the Urban League.){{cite news
| title = Church Women United…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 55
| date = Oct 20, 1974
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-church-women-united/126278946/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In November Gorham helped with the observance of Birth of Bahá'u'lláh at the Talley home.{{cite news
| title = Baha'is
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 7
| date = Nov 9, 1974
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahais-observe-bir/126254566/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} And in December Gorham was helping with the Human Relations Council observance of Human Rights Day.{{cite news
| title = Human Rights Day observance planned
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 17
| date = Dec 7, 1974
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-t-go/125427962/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
A student of Gorham made some news in March 1975,{{cite news
| title = Flo Kennedy helps 'niggerized' |author= Susan Lykes
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 1
| date = Mar 7, 1975
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126279311/
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} and Gorham arranged the internship of a student with the Dept of Commerce New Bureau in Tallahassee.{{cite magazine
| title = Data from Florida
| magazine = JET
| page = 42
| date = Apr 24, 1975
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OkMDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA42&pg=PA42
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Gorham was also elected to the Bahá'í assembly,{{cite news
| title = Bah'i (sic)
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 12
| date = May 10, 1975
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahais-elect-assem/125428036/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and she spoke for the Declaration of the Báb.{{cite news
| title = Baha'is celebrate 132nd anniversary
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = May 17, 1975
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahais-observe-dec/126255094/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In August Gorham among workshop presenters at the Weights and Measures Conference in Tallahassee,{{cite news
| title = Metric conversion inches along
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 7
| date = Aug 1, 1975
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-forha/126279598/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and listed among the faculty of the new FAMU Journalism Department that fall.{{cite news
| title = New faculty bring varied backgrounds
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 37
| date = Sep 16, 1975
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126280708/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Gorham was asked to be the convening chair of the district convention at which a delegate is elected to go to the national convention.{{Citation
| title =Letter From Bart Mickler Jr. (ed: Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Gainsville)
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = Sep 13, 1975
| year = 2024
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/10693 }} Come December Gorham was mentioned among the Bahá'í meetings for Human Rights Day,{{cite news
| title = Human Rights Day planned
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 7
| date = Dec 13, 1975
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-hold-human-r/126255541/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and with an Assembly sponsored social reception who and wnet on to a project in nearby Quincy.* {{cite news
| title = Teaching rally excites friends at Quincy, Fla.
| newspaper = The American Bahá'í
| page = 5
| date = Feb 1976
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:The_American_Bahá’í_February_1976.pdf&page=5
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Teaching in the Southern States; Florida
| newspaper = The American Bahá'í
| page = 6
| date = May 1976
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:The_American_Bahá’í_May_1976.pdf&page=6
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
For a US Bicentennial review Gorham forecast for herself both more activity and less prominence as she focused on publishing articles.{{cite news
| title = Some show spirit for '76 |author= Beth Barber
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 13
| date = Jan 1, 1976
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126255682/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} A couple weeks later she was at the St. James Missionary Baptists Church talking on "Meeting Some of the Challenges of the International Women's Year" for the Women in Action for Christ group,{{cite news
| title = Guest speaker
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 7
| date = Jan 17, 1976
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-t-go/125428164/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and elected to the Spiritual Assembly too.{{cite news
| title = Baha'is elect chairman
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 17
| date = May 1, 1976
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahais-elect-assem/126281583/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In September Gorham gave a talk at the FSU Bahá'í Club's observance of World Peace Day,{{cite news
| title = Big Bend churches; Baha'is celebrate world peace
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 18
| date = Sep 18, 1976
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126281692/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and received a ballot for a by-election for the Tallahassee Spiritual Assembly.{{Citation
| title = Appointment Book of Thelma Thurston of 1976
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = September 1976
| year = 2024
| chapter = LSA of Tallahassee
| page = 38-9
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item-set/2361|chapter-url=https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/12397}} The Tallahassee Bahá'ís hosted the northern most of the three regions of that year's district conventions in Florida.{{cite news
| title = Complete Details of 1976 District Conventions Sunday, October 3
| newspaper = The American Bahá'í
| page = 2
| date = Sep 1976
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:The_American_Bahá’í_September_1976.pdf&page=2
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} She also received a thank you letter from the Local Assembly of Gainesville for assisting in their efforts to present the religion to the public some time before November{{Citation
| title =Letter from Billy Rogers to Each Speaker in the FJC Project (ed - Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Jacksonville)
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = November 24, 1976
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9723}} and a department head at Jacksonville Community College was seeking permission for a presentation on the Bahá'ís of which Gorham was listed as one of the faculty for the fall class and would be attempting to create a film recording of the event in her class.{{Citation
| title =Letter and Attached List from Samuel C. Jackson to Dean Cosby, November 10, 1976
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = November 10, 1976
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9722}}
In March 1977 she was visible teaching media classes at FAMU,{{cite news
| title = Area briefs; FAMU journalism taught
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 17
| date = Mar 25, 1977
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126281993/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} at least some of which focused on women,{{cite news
| title = FAMU has course on women in media
| newspaper = Florida Flambeau
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 13
| date = March 28, 1977
| url = https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu%3A346148#page/13/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and a regional Bahá'í conference included Gorham.{{cite news
| title = Bahai's(sic) to hold conference here
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = Mar 27, 1976
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-regional-con/126281416/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} The following April, a septuagenarian made the news in Gorham's journalism class.{{cite news
| title = Septuagenarian takes journalism |author= Robert Montgomery
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 12
| date = Apr 6, 1977
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126282342/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} That June, her mother, Bertha Lee, died while living with Thelma and sister Erma.Officiating at funeral was Rev. Ira D. Hinson who was pastor of that Church {{cite news
| title = Women's Day at Bethel AME Church
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = Jun 11, 1977
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-rev-ira-d-hinson/126271355/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}* {{cite news
| title = Lee, Mrs. Bertha P.
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 11
| date = Apr 11, 1977
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-obit-for-bertha-lee/126271095/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Deaths around the Big Bend; Bertha Lee
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 14
| date = Apr 8, 1977
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-obit-of-bertha-p-l/125428501/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In June Gorham was officially offered an associate professorship in the new department,{{Citation
| title = Letter from Gertrude L. Simmons to Thelma Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = June 22, 1977
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6213}} a colleague of Gorham was mentioned as a columnist,{{cite news
| title = Columnist finds fault with news coverage
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 1
| date = Jun 25, 1977
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126282854/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}} and in July, Gorham was noted with the journalism department.{{cite news
| title = Remembering that theatrical wedding |author=Dorothy Clifford
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 9
| date = Jul 29, 1977
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126283737/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} She was given a paid-year off, 1977-1978, to work on her PhD.{{Citation
| title =Letter from Thelma Gorham to Robert M. Ruggles
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = August 19, 1977
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6084 }}
In February 1978 Gorham gave a workshop at FAMU on careers.{{cite news
| title = On Campus; A new careers awareness…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 19
| date = Feb 12, 1978
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126283914/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} This month she also got news that many of her Minnesota University credits had been accepted for her PhD degree progress at Florida State University.{{Citation
| title =Various FSU Memos and Documents Relating to Thelma T. Gorhams study at FSU |chapter=The Florida State University; Memorandum; Thelma Gorham Program of Studies by Tom W. Hoffer
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = February 17, 1978
| year = 2024
|pages=1–2
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item-set/2361 |chapter-url=https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9526}} In May Gorham hosted the radio program presenting Ann Schoonmaker on the Cavalcade radio show for the regional Bahá'í Women's Conference at Florida State University the week preceding the Declaration of the Bab.{{cite news
| title = Women confer in Florida
| newspaper = The American Bahá'í
| page = 11
| date = Aug 1978
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:The_American_Bahá’í_August_1978.pdf&page=11
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Print coverage of the conference reached from Tallahassee to Georgia.{{cite news
| title = TV shows key Atlanta Race Unity Day Observance
| newspaper = The American Bahá'í
| page = 6
| date = Aug 1978
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:The_American_Bahá’í_August_1978.pdf&page=6
| access-date =Nov 13, 2023 }} Gorham also appeared for a talk on "Wommen in Communications" with an FSU doctoral student.{{cite news
| title = 'Women in Communications' speech topic
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 56
| date = May 28, 1978
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126284076/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}} FAMU and FSU were both colleges with known Bahá'í clubs that year.{{cite news
| title = Partial listing of Baha'i College Clubs in US
| newspaper = The American Bahá'í
| page = 5
| date = Dec 10, 1978
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:The_American_Bahá’í_10_December_1978.pdf&page=5
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}} Gorham was signed up for two graduate-level courses with Florida State for the summer of 1978.{{Citation
| title = Appointment Book of 1978 for Thelma Thurston Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = Summer 1978
| year = 2024
| chapter = The Florida State University Office of the Registrar
| page = 13
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item-set/2361|chapter-url=https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/12404}}
For the school year of 1979-1980, her salary was $17,899. In May, an update on Gorham's progress on her PhD was circulated among relevant staff by Dr. Tom W. Hoffer of Florida State Univerity.{{Citation
| title =Memo from Tom W. Hoffer to Various Faculty at Florida State University
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = 25 May, 1979 |author= Dr Tom W Hoffer, Florida State University
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/7006}} In June, Gorham again represented the University of Minnesota at an FSU inauguration.{{cite news
| title = The right remark |author=Charles Friend
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 21
| date = Jun 24, 1979
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126284318/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} That fall the Thelma Thurston Gorham Merit Award for Achievement was established by the FAMU Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists of the Department of Journalism, and the first award was given to student Erroll Brown, FAMU Student Government President.{{cite magazine
| title =Gerri Major's Society World; Cocktail Chitchat
| magazine = JET
| page = 38
| date = Oct 4, 1979
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LkIDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA38&pg=PA38
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}} In November, Gorham spoke on the UN-designated and Bahá'í supported International Year of the Child.{{cite news
| title = Children mirror the spirit |author= Thelma Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 5
| date = Nov 19, 1979
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126284516/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
In March 1980, the Tallahassee Spiritual Assembly advertised for pioneers.{{cite news
| title = Classifieds; The Baha'i Community of Tallahassee…
| newspaper = The American Bahá'í
| page = 12
| date = Mar 1980
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:The_American_Bahá’í_March_1980.pdf&page=12
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In April Gorham was interviewed on TV11,* {{cite news
| title = Prime Time
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 136
| date = Apr 13, 1980
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126284645/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Prime Time
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 11
| date = Apr 14, 1980
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126284785/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and she was part of the new Zonta International chapter in town.{{cite news
| title = Touch of Las Vegas comes to town |author=Dorothy Clifford
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| pages = 23, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126285443/ 25]
| date = May 29, 1980
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126285414/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} She was again interviewed in September,{{cite news
| title = Cancer claims second local civil rights leader
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| pages = 11 [https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126285808/ 12]
| date = Sep 18, 1980
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126285767/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and an article of her own was published in March 1981 in The Tallahassee Democrat.{{cite news
| title = Acclaimed FAMU program puts pests in the spotlight |author=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| pages = 7 [https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-thurs/126286037/ 8]
| date = Mar 9, 1981
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-thurs/125428537/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} A couple weeks later Gorham's article profiling the Bahá'ís was published, including the Bahá'ís of Tallahassee, Leon County, Quincy, Havana, Monticello, and Perry, who together held Naw Ruz: "The Baha'is… believe that Baha'u'llah developed a religious system that will enable them to overcome their inbred divisiveness and achieve a long-awaited unity and harmony of purpose - the establishment of the kingdom of God on Earth."{{cite news
| title = Those of Baha'i faith celebrate New Year today |author= Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 15
| date = Mar 21, 1981
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-thurs/125428578/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} It was also mentioned that Adelbert C. Jones of FAMU was also a Bahá'í since 1971.
Gorham wrote another article for the Democrat,* {{cite news
| title = Black high school students shunning music activities |author=Thelma Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 5
| date = Mar 31, 1981
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126286902/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = 'Quiet rebellion' quite real |author= Doris H. Clack
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 4
| date = Apr 17, 1981
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-doris-clack-reacts/126287058/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and her work on women's classes at FAMU also made the news.{{cite news
| title = Women in the Mass Media
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 19
| date = Apr 26, 1981
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126287190/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} This year, Gorham was elected as chair of the Tallahassee Assembly,{{cite news
| title = Organizations
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 56
| date = Jul 5, 1981
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-assembly-ele/126287327/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} appointed as an assistant to the Auxiliary Board for the region operating under Ben Levy, who was operating under Counselors Sarah Pereira and Velma Sherrill in June, wrote an update to Levy about community activities,{{Citation
| title =Draft Report to Ben Levy from Thelma Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = August 28, 1981
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6419 }} and she was on a panel at the National Newspaper Publisher's Association meeting in July.{{cite news
| title = Organizations; Thelma T. Gorham…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 60
| date = Jul 19, 1981
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126287511/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In August, Gorham was mentioned as presenting at a conference in her position as an assistant to the Auxiliary Board.{{cite news
| title = Thelma T. Gorham…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 61
| date = Aug 2, 1981
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126270057/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
There is mention of, but lack of access to, a series of articles Gorham did for September 24-30, and December 10-16, 1981, entitled “Universal Truths,” on religion and faith.
In February 1982, Gorham was listed part of a fireside series of Bahá'í informational meetings at FAMU.{{cite news
| title = Third in a series…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 10
| date = Feb 20, 1982
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-meeting-seri/126270091/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In April FAMU received word that its new Print Journalism, Broadcast Journalism and Public Relations programs for the Department of Mass Communications, of which Gorham had been a part, and been approved by the Accreditation Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication(ACEJMC) - the first HBCU to receive this accreditation.* {{Citation
| title =Letter from Don E. Carter (ed - President of the Accreditation Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication(ACEJMC)) to Walter L. Smith (ed - President of FAMU)
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = April 23, 1982
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9530 }}
- {{Citation
| title =Memo from Robert M. Ruggles to FAMU Journalism Faculty, May 3, 1982
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = April 23, 1982
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9528 }} In May she was a cosigner on the Equal Rights Amendment(ERA) support letter published by The Tallahassee Democrat.{{cite news
| title = An Open Letter…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 4
| date = May 2, 1982
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126287674/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In about May, the Minsiterial Alliance of Tallahassee wrote a resolution on the plight of the Bahá'ís in Iran,{{cite book
| title = The Baha'i World|chapter=International Survey of Current Baha'i Activities; The Persecution of the Bahá’í Community of Írán 1979-1983; 1982; May
| publisher =Universal House of Justice
|series=An International Record
| volume = 18
| date = 1986
| location =Haifa
| page = 350
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:BW_Volume18.pdf&page=371
| isbn = 0853982341}}{{cite book
| title =Bahá'í World |chapter=Statements, Appeals, Enquiries, Letters of Support, Etc.; International Survey of Current Baha'i Activities
|series=An International Record
| publisher = Universal House of Justice
| volume = 19
| date = 1994
| page = 47
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:BW_Volume19.pdf&page=71
| isbn = 0853989982}} though no public mention has been found locally. In July Darryl was honored at the Bosses Appreciation Day by the Department of Community Improvement of the City government. Gorham was elected to report for the Tallahassee Drifters, Inc.{{cite news
| title = Achievements; Darryl T. Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 57
| date = Jul 18, 1982
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahais-darryl-gorh/126288663/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In October Gorham helped aa teacher get a grant,{{cite news
| title = Achievements; Harriet Norrie…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 58
| date = Oct 24, 1982
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-bahai-thelma-gorha/126288955/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}} and again FAMU was one of the universities with a Bahá'í club.{{cite news
| title = 257 College Clubs now a part of growing youth network
| newspaper = The American Bahá'í
| page = 6
| date = Nov 1982
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:The_American_Bahá’í_November_1982.pdf&page=6
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
In January 1983, she complained about her salary,{{Citation
| title = Letter from Thelma Gorham to James E. Hawkins
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = January 11, 1983
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6141}} after external comments in 1982 that her salary was too low. This resulted in the highest raise in the department of journalism for that year and resulting in a 1983-1984 school year salary of $28,562. In May, Gorham served in a county 4-H fair as a judge.{{Citation
| title =Letter from Elaine C. Shook (ed - Florida Cooperative Extension Service Program Leader for 4-H) to Thelma T. Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = May 5, 1983
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9688}} In June, Gorham wrote a letter to editor on the persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran,{{cite news
| title = Persecution of Baha'is severe in Iran |author=Thelma T. Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 4
| date = Jun 2, 1983
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126270351/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} as well as part of interviews about barrier at FAMU for students like processing financial aid.{{Citation
| title =NEA Advocate, "Making It In Academe"
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = June, 1983 |chapter=The Obstacles facing One University |pages=4-5
| year = 2024
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item-set/2361|chapter-url=https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/5581 }} This year Gorham was elected vice-chair of Tallahassee Assembly.{{cite news
| title = Organizations; Members of the Tallahassee…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 68
| date = Jun 19, 1983
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126289141/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In August, she wrote again on persecution in Iran, remarking on the deaths of teenage girl Bahá'ís in Iran "resulting from the systematic and officially sanctioned persecution of the Baha'i religious minority in Iran" and that this had made a variety of media coverage including WFSU-TV. "Perhaps we can refuse to remain wrapped in silence, ignorant or unaware of what could happen elsewhere."{{cite news
| title = Iranian persecution of members of Baha'i faith must end |author=Thelma Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 4
| date = Aug 29, 1983
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126270453/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In September, she was listed with Bahá'í Club meetings and as their contact point.{{cite news
| title = Florida A&M University; Baha'i Fellowship
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = Sep 17, 1983
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126289859/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
In January 1984, Gorham was on a Tony Brown panel discussion for WFSY.{{cite news
| title = Tony Brown visits WFSY for special
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 13
| date = Jan 24, 1984
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126289982/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In February, entering her thirtieth year as a member of the Bahá'í Faith, Gorham gave a talk at FAMU entitled "An African-American View of the Baha'i Faith”.{{cite news
| title = Today you may… Hear FAMU Associate Professor…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 27
| date = Feb 16, 1984
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126270558/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In September, there was a Bahá'í float was in a spring parade in Tallahassee.{{cite news
| title = About 100,000 people…
| newspaper = The American Bahá'í|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 4
| date = Sep 1984
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:The_American_Bahá’í_September_1984.pdf&page=4
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In October, Gorham presented a press workshop at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.{{cite news
| title = Milestones; Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 26
| date = Oct 17, 1984
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125428623/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Gorham wrote a summary of the Bahá'í wedding of Hilary Morris and Nasreen Akhtar-Khavari,{{Citation
| title =Baha'i Wedding Ceremony
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| pages=1-2
| year = 202
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/12389 }} which also took place in October.{{cite news
| title = Akhtar-Khavari-Morris
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| pages = 78
| date = Oct 7, 1984
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/141912542/
| access-date = Feb 23, 2024}}
Elder
For 1984-5, her university salary was $28,562, and she was given a raise for 1985-6 to $30,690,{{Citation
| title =Employment Contract and Salary Increase Notification for Thelma T. Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = July 25, 1985
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9647}} which may have included a raise based on a salary comparison she performed against other staff.{{Citation
| title = Letter from James E. Hawkins to Robert M. Ruggles
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = December 4, 1984
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6217}}{{Citation
| title = Letter from Robert M. Ruggles to Leedell W. Neyland
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = December 11, 1984
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6216}} She also passed her PhD preliminary exams in 1984.{{Citation
| title = Letter from Edward Wotring to Thelma Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = March 28, 1989
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6177}} Starting 1985 Gorham began to be sought out to comment on topics, on more boards, while also continuing as before giving talks and noted in various venues. In February 1985, Gorham was quoted commenting on the state of journalism,{{cite news
| title = Black Newspapers |author= R. C. Morgan-Wilde
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 9
| date = Feb 19, 1985
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125428673/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and on past FAMU presidents.{{cite news
| title = The first seven FAMU presidents, Andy Lindstrom
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 23, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/126290567/ 25]
| date = Feb 28, 1985
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126290556/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In March Gorham consulted with regional press institute conference.{{cite news
| title = Milestones; Thelma T. Gorham…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 24
| date = Mar 20, 1985
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126290903/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In April Gorham joined the governing directors of the Miss Collegiate Black American Pageant.{{cite news
| title = New Pageant seeks to glorify inner beauty |author=Starla Vaughns
| newspaper = The Miami Times|via=UFLib.UFL.EDU
| location = Miami, FL
| page = 8
| date = April 11, 1985
| url = https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00028321/03482/zoom/7
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} That year FAMU was the host of the regional Bahá'í district convention to elect a delegate to the next National Bahá'í Convention.{{cite news
| title = Complete listing of 1985 District Convention sites
| newspaper = The American Bahá'í|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 18
| date = Sep 1985
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:The_American_Bahá’í_September_1985.pdf&page=18
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In November Gorham was mentioned helping a writer of novel.{{cite news
| title = After years in the kitchen, she enters publishing field |author=Osker Spicer
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 47
| date = Nov 17, 1985
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126291343/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Opening January 1986 through its first three editions, Gorham was on the editorial board of American Journalism.* {{cite journal
| title = Editorial Board
| journal = American Journalism|via=Archive.org
| volume = 3
| issue = 1
| page = 0
| date = 1986
| url = https://archive.org/details/americanjournali03amer/page/n3/mode/1up
| issn = 0882-1127
| access-date =Nov 24, 2023 }}
- {{cite journal
| title = Editorial Board
| journal = American Journalism|via=Archive.org
| volume = 3
| issue = 2
| page = 0
| date = 1986
| url = https://archive.org/details/americanjournali03amer/page/n75/mode/1up
| issn = 0882-1127
| access-date =Nov 24, 2023 }}
{{cite journal
| title = Editorial Board
| journal = American Journalism|via=Archive.org
| volume = 3
| issue = 3
| page = 0
| date = 1986
| url = https://archive.org/details/americanjournali03amer/page/n135/mode/1up
| issn = 0882-1127
| access-date =Nov 24, 2023 }} In April Gorham was added to the inaugural Black Communicators Hall of Fame,* {{cite news
| title = FAMU journalism professor first Hall of Fame inductee
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 41
| date = Apr 23, 1986
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125428703/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{Citation
| title = FAMU journalism professor first hall of Fame inductee
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = April 23, 1986
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/3712 }}
- {{Citation
| title = FAMU Professor Inducted to Black Communicators Hall of Fame
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = 1986
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/3673}} with that being heralded in Miami too.{{cite news
| title = Thelma Gorham inducted into Hall of Fame
| newspaper = The Miami Times|via=UFLib.UFL.EDU
| location = Miami, FL
| page = 29
| date = June 5, 1986
| url = https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00028321/03542/zoom/28
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} A study on The Oklahoma Eagle included interviews of Gorham in 1986 was later published.{{cite journal
| last = Brown
| first = Karen F.
| title = The Oklahoma Eagle: A study of black press survival
| journal = Howard Journal of Communications|via=Eric.ED.Edu
| volume = 1
| issue = 2
| pages = 1-11
| date = 27 Feb 2009 |orig-date=1988
| url = https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED270809.pdf
| doi = 10.1080/10646178809359674
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In September Gorham was asked to comment on FAMU history,{{cite news
| title = Surviving the seperate-but-not-equal struggle |author=Andy Lindstrom
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| pages = 73–[https://www.newspapers.com/article/126292625/ 74]
| date = Sep 28, 1986
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126292566/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and she worked with the local Urban League magazine in early 1987.{{cite news
| title = League starts project with new magazine |author= Vonda F. Ward
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 13
| date = Apr 18, 1987
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126292927/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} In June she was asked by the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Gainsville to assist in their efforts to reach the local African American community.{{Citation
| title =Pot-Luck Conference Of Speakers At Reitz Union
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
|chapter=Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Gainsville, June 1987
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = June 30, 1987
|page=1
| year = 2024
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item-set/2361|chapter-url=https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/10730 }} In August, she was among the presenters during a local teaching conference designed to look at ways to promulgate the religion in the area in August.{{Citation
| title =Conference Agenda For the 15th Of August
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = Aug 7, 1987
|pages=1-2
| year = 2024
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/10731}} In late 1987 the Tallahassee Bahá'ís gave the Promise of World Peace to Jack McLean, Tallahassee Mayor, and on December 10 the Mayor and city council proclaimed Human Rights Day.{{cite news
| title = On the cover…
| newspaper = Baha'i News|via=Bahai.Works
| page = i
| date = Feb 1988
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_683.pdf&page=2
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} That summer, she attended a Florida Folk Heritage Award ceremony by the state Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs, and as a result, was invited to a 3 day state Folklore Society Festival and a special reception they held.{{Citation
| title =Letter from Merri Belland to Thelma Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = May 18, 1988
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6338 }}
In March 1988 Gorham agreed to co-represent the Division of Journalism at the April FAMU Campus honors banquet.{{Citation
| last = Ruggles
| first = Robert M., Dean
| title = Appointment Book of 1988 for Thelma Thurston Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = August 20, 1989
| year = 2024
| chapter = Robert M. Ruggles, Dean (letter)
| page = 14
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item-set/2361|chapter-url=https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/12417}} That October Gorham gave a FAMU workshop on classroom stress,{{cite news
| title = Dealing with stress
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 7
| date = Oct 26, 1988
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126300204/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and was asked to comment on the language “African American” vs "black" - she preferred "African American".{{cite news
| title = Yes, because it 'describes our heritage'
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| pages = 89, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/126300500/ 90]
| date = Feb 5, 1989
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126300450/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
In February 1989, Gorham was asked to be a judge for an oratorial contest for Black History Month.{{Citation
| title =Memo from Haldo K. Perpignand to Thelma T. Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = February 13, 1989
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9561}} In March, Gorham was among the nominations for Women in Communications Inc. Spotlight Award,{{cite news
| title = Around Town; Open for business |author=Kathy McCord
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 82
| date = Mar 12, 1989
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126301324/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}} and in April, she was invited to the FAMU Presidential Scholars Association reception and fundraiser.{{Citation
| title =Invitation to "Scholars Night" by the Presidential Scholars Association of Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = April 6, 1989
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6259 }} She was also the source for a newspaper article on the FAMU marching band appearing in France for their Bicentennial.{{cite news
| title = Billy Rowe's Notebook; From the United States…
| newspaper = The Miami Times|via=UFLib.UFL.EDU
| location = Miami, FL
| page = 5D
| date = July 20, 1989
| url = https://original-ufdc.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00028321/02455/31x
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} The five year sunset-time of her PhD prelimary test passes had lapsed without enough progress towards her degree so further work would require passing a new set of preliminary tests. In August, Gorham received a by-election call from the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Tallahassee.{{Citation
| last = Wilson
| first = Lin F., Secretary
| title = 1989 Appointment And Calendar by the Alpha Kappa Alpha Education Advancement Foundation
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = August 20, 1989
| year = 2024
| chapter = Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Tallahassee, Florida
| page = 3
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item-set/2361|chapter-url=https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/12419}} In September, Gorham was co-presenter at FAMU on the Bahá'ís,{{cite news
| title = Religion Calendar; Special Programs; The Baha'i Faith
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 12
| date = Sep 9, 1989
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126270695/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} listed with her own talk, and the Bahá'í club contact point.{{cite news
| title = Friday; "The Baha'i Faith and Spiritual Solution"
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = Sep 11, 1989
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126270732/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}} In November she spoke for the
Bahá'í observance of the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh at a park and at FAMU.{{cite news
| title = Baha'is of Tallahassee and Leon County
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 29
| date = Nov 11, 1989
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126270774/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} By then she was also a paid-up life member of the NAACP, and a member of the Honors Committee for the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Black Educationa Fund.{{Citation
| title =Letter from Thelma Gorham to Roosevelt Wilson
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = November 6, 1989
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6449}}
In 1990 Gorham was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Women in Communication, Inc, what was once Theta Sigma Phi, the honors sorority of women journalists, which had asked her to leave after adopting a racist amendment in its charter document banning African Americans. The ban was lifted later, and after 12 years, she rejoined the organization. In her 1945 coverage of the formation of the United Nations was had signed on with eight newspapers to cover the event. Her piece for The Crisis about venereal disease at Fort Wachuca caused ire with the Fort command. She remembered her frustration at the unbalanced coverage and tone of coverage about blacks in Kansas when she was growing up. She was working on a book about African American journalists and publishers.{{cite news
| title = FAMU professor makes journalism come alive in class |author= Christine Sexton
| newspaper = Florida Flambeau|via=Archive.org
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| pages = 1, 6
| date = March 2, 1990
| url = https://archive.org/details/Florida_Flambeau_1990_Mar/page/n13/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} She also won the 1990-1991 NOW Black Woman Award by the 34th National Drifter Convention "to typify the versatility, courage and strength of a special kind of woman," with reviews of her local chapter activity, national organization actions, local community, personal and professional life, and hobbies and avocations.{{Citation
| title =Copy of Article Concerning Thelma T. Gorham's Receipt of the Now Black Woman Award
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = 1990
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6968}} She was also WTXL-TV's "Citizen of the Week".{{Citation
| title = Letter from Sherry Jones to Thelma Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = February 19, 1990
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/6113 }} The 1990 Bahá'í District Convention in Tallahassee was held at FSU.{{cite news
| title = District Convention Information
| newspaper = The American Bahá'í|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 10
| date = Aug 1990
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:The_American_Bahá’í_Vol21_No8.pdf&page=10
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
In early 1991, Gorham agreed to serve as a judge in reading papers for the local chapter of the NAACP,{{Citation
| title =Letter and Accompanying Documents from Anita Davis (ed - Chair of the local NAACP chapter) to Thelma T. Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date = March 11, 1991
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/9719}} and that year Gorham's sister also died in her home.{{cite news
| title = Erma Lee Freeman
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 25
| date = Aug 28, 1991
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126271057/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
Gorham was given another profile in The Florida Flambeau in October 1991. A journalist since the 1930s, editor of many publications, children's book author, high school teacher, and public information officer. Associate editor Lauren Lustig called her "popular and nurturing" at FAMU. "I have a number of gigs I have not played." She still hoped to finish her PhD on Thurgood Marshall and worked with him at an NAACP office in the 1940s. She had more than 30 plaques on her office wall in 1991. She was known to fill out application forms and put "human" when asked for race. "God, whomever he or she may be, only made one race.” She was one of three black women on campus that year and the only one studying journalism though there were other white women. Her first journalism job with the Kansas City Call was as a police reporter and rose to being an editor while there. She covered the UN during President Roosevelt's attendance mostly on Third World policies for 8 newspapers in the 1950s. Her directoriship of Opportunities Industrialization Center brought people into vocation and academic work - one rose to being a bank executive. Gorham believed Reagan and Bush (W) should have been impeached but had given up on politics years earlier when she ran for Kansas City Board of Educaiton. Gorham was registered as independent (unaffiliated), regular voted, felt Justice Thomas was not qualified and called Anita Hill "weak"; "Both were used by the white establishment."
Posthumously
=Died=
Gorham was found dead January 7, 1992, after missing two classes at the beginning of her January classes at FAMU.{{cite news
| title = FAMU Educator Found Dead
| newspaper = Florida Star|via=UFLib.UFL.EDU
| location = Jacksonville, FL
| page = 1
| date = January 18, 1992
| url = https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00028362/03370/zoom/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023 }} Police officers broken into the house to find her, found her dead in her bedroom of natural causes, while under doctor's care for a heart problem, dead for several days. She was last seen December 31, (also the date of a Feast of the Bahá'í community.) FAMU held a memorial January 9 at the Winterwood Theatre.{{cite news
| title = Thelma Gorham, popular FAMU professor and trailblazing journalist, passes way |author=Glen Torbert
| newspaper = Florida Flambeau|via=Lib.FSU.EDU
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| pages = 1,15
| date = January 9, 1992
| url = https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:468702#page/1/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
Obituaries of Gorham began to be posted, including notices of twin memorials - at the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, and of the Bahá'ís and Alpha Kappa Alpha at the Funeral Home.* {{cite news
| title = Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 17
| date = Jan 10, 1992
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126270904/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite web
| title = Thelma Thurston Gorham Obituary
| url = https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKWN-9GVD
| website = FamilySearch.org
| date =9 Jan 1992
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}{{registration required}} "Any Florida A&M University journalism student or teacher will recognize [the words] 'God didn't make black and white people. God made just one race, the human race." that often came up in conversation with Thelma Thurston Gorham. They give a sense of the wisdom Gorham gained from her years of struggling to make a name for herself in the field of journalism when the idea of a female African-American reporter was unheard of."{{cite news
| title = A wise Lady
| newspaper = Florida Flambeau |via=Lib.FSU.EDU
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 4
| date = Jan 10, 1992
| url = https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu%3A468762#page/4/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 24, 2023 }}
Her final interview back from October was published a couple days later in The Florida Flambeau. It noted she was the first woman awardee of the Lifetime Career Achievement Award by the local chapter of Women in Communications, Inc., and teacher of the year 1990-91. Police officers broke into the house to find her, found her dead in her bedroom of natural causes, while under doctor's care for a heart problem, already dead for several days. She was last seen December 31, also the date of a Feast of the Bahá'í community. FAMU held a memorial January 9 at the Winterwood Theatre. She was listed in The American Bahá'í back dating her death to January 1.{{cite news
| title = In Memoriam
| newspaper = The American Bahá'í|via=Bahai.Works
| page = 15
| date = Jun 24, 1992
| url = https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:The_American_Bahá’í_Vol23_No9.pdf&page=15
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Her grave is in the Southside Cemetery Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida,{{cite web
| title = Thelma T Gorham |author= Graves
| url = https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/88014293/thelma-t-gorham
| website = Findagrave.com
| date =3 Apr 2012
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} with the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church officiating. At time the Bahá'í community had no Center - it’s first came in 1997, around which the regional Baha’i population was 68 across Tallahassee, Leon County, and nearby Havana.{{cite news
| title = Flowers of one garden |author=Barbara Hogan
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| pages = 13, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/126272164/ 18]
| date = Apr 25, 1998
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126272133/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
Gorham would have suffered through Hurricanes Dora(1964), Alma(1966), Agnes (1972), Kate (1985).{{cite web
| title = History of Tropical Storms & Hurricanes at FSU
| url = https://emergency.fsu.edu/resources/hazards/tropical-storms-hurricanes/tropical-storms-hurricanes-history-fsu
| website = FSU.edu
| date =2023
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
=Memorials=
Memorials and testimonials began to appear quickly from local journalists and institutions.* {{cite news
| title = Professor Gorham - Goodbye to a pioneer journalist
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 5
| date = Jan 9, 1992
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125428919/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Memorial set for Thelma Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 9
| date = Jan 9, 1992
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126328426/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 19
| date = Jan 10, 1992
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126328462/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = A warrior's light goes out |author=Barrington Salmon
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 13
| date = Jan 11, 1992
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126328483/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Gorham's death a loss to all |author=Clinton Black
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 10
| date = Jan 14, 1992
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126328369/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Feeling the loss |author=Clinton L. Black
| newspaper = Florida Flambeau|via=Lib.FSU.EDU
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 4
| date = January 22, 1992
| url = https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu%3A468945#page/4/mode/1up
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Education; Journalist Thelma Gorham of FAMU, dies in Florida
| newspaper = JET
| page = 22
| date = Jan 27, 1992
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1sIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Role Model: Carmen Cummings
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 13
| date = Feb 8, 1992
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126328641/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Arthur Crowell, then of Hamden, Connecticut, said of Gorham that she "singlehandedly developed the journalism curriculum to train - and more, motivate - FAMU students."{{cite web
| work=Suspicion must accompany… |author= Arthur R. Crowell, Jr
| url = https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:764391
| title=The Chronicle of Higher Education |via=Lib.FSU.EDU
| date =
| access-date =Nov 24, 2023 }} FAMU gave a posthumous honorary doctorate to Gorham in April,{{cite news
| title = FAMU, FSU grads go out Saturday |author=Browning Brooks
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 7
| date = Apr 24, 1992
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126328667/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} as well as a career Meritorious Achievement Award.{{cite news
| title = Record number of FAMU grads clutch diplomas |author= Barrington Salmon
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 37, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/126328719/ 44]
| date = Apr 26, 1992
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126328709/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} A scholarship in her name was established in June,* {{cite news
| title = Scholarship fund established for late FAMU professor
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 10
| date = Jun 29, 1992
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126328762/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Banquet will raise fund for Gorham Scholarship
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = Oct 22, 1992
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126328780/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} and a nonprofit.{{cite web
| title = Thelma Thurston Gorham Foundat, Incn
| url = https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_fl/N51482
| website = OpenCorporates.com
| date =
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
Other remembrances were published by further journalists across the South in the 1990s and on into the early 2000s.* {{cite news
| title = Gorham's life offered lessons of lasting value |author= Keith L. Thomas
| newspaper = The Atlanta Constitution|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Atlanta, Georgia
| page = 31
| date = Jan 9, 1992
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125428974/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Thank God for Thelma Gorham |author= Victor Inge
| newspaper = The Selma Times-Journal|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Selma, Alabama
| page = 4
| date = Jan 24, 1992
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126438826/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Education - Socratic teacher built dream of leadership, learning and liberty
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 11
| date = Nov 24, 1993
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126328810/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = A Community Voice: A time of learning at Florida A&M |author=Gayle Andrews
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 59
| date = Jan 22, 1995
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126328852/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 20
| date = Feb 21, 1997
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126329013/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = School earns national reputation |author= Melanie Yeager
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| pages = 1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/126329198/ 6]
| date = Oct 28, 1999
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126329185/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Feb 12
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 13
| date = Feb 3, 2005
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126330700/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Saturday
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 12
| date = Feb 7, 2005
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126330752/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Big applause
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 52
| date = Feb 11, 2005
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126330798/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Campus Notes; Florida AM&M University - Division of Research honors women
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 18
| date = Mar 13, 2005
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126330867/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Around 2004 news began to be circulated about the FAMU Journalism and Mass Media Department getting its own building initially named after Gorham about which there was some contrasting opinions.* {{cite news
| title = Politics may stain FAMU journalism building |author= Mark Riordan
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 37
| date = Mar 18, 2004
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126329728/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = What's in a name?
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 30
| date = Mar 19, 2004
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126329947/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Digest; FAMU J-School; FAMU building also may honor Ruggles
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 8
| date = Mar 19, 2004
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126329973/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Space Zings!; Thelma Gorham…
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = Mar 22, 2004
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126330027/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Gorham's name is being used to spite Ruggles |author= Peter McKay
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 36
| date = Mar 25, 2004
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126330064/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Heads need cooling before site gets name |author= Gerald Ensley
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 21
| date = Mar 28, 2004
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126330151/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Letters to the Editor; Gorham's name deserves a place of honor at FAMU |author= Pearl Stewart
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = Mar 29, 2004
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126330237/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Solving the FAMU journalism school name dilemma |author= Shaundra L. Lee
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 32
| date = Mar 30, 2004
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126330323/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Building-name bill advances in House |author=Nancy Cook Lauer
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = Mar 31, 2004
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126330372/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Turbulent time shaped FAMU class of 1965 |author= TaMaryn Waters
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 9
| date = Aug 19, 2005
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126330920/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Juan's on
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 55
| date = Oct 14, 2005
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126331002/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Ribbon-cutting held for new building
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 2
| date = Oct 22, 2005
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126331092/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} Then she was mentioned in local Black History Month events.* {{cite news
| title = Black History Month - Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 11
| date = Feb 17, 2006
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126331351/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Black History Month - Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 9
| date = Feb 20, 2007
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125440497/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite web
| title = Snapshot of a Dynamic Life |author= Noah Cole | work=Illuminations: An FSU Special Collections Blog
| url = https://fsuspecialcollections.wordpress.com/2023/04/05/snapshot-of-a-dynamic-life/
| publisher = FSU Special Collections
| date = Apr 5, 2023
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite web
| title = The Humanity in a Hollinger - One Intern’s Experience with Connection in a Collection | work=Illuminations: An FSU Special Collections Blog |author= Caroline Haight
| url = https://fsuspecialcollections.wordpress.com/2023/05/24/the-humanity-in-a-hollinger/
| publisher = FSU Special Collections
| date = Apr 5, 2023
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}} The FAMU Journalism and Mass Media's Alumni Achievement Award in Gorham's name began to be given from 1995 and continues through 2023.{{cite web
| title = Thelma Thurston Gorham Distinguished Alumni Award
| url = https://sjgc.famu.edu/sjgcalumnithelma.php
| website = SJGC.FAMU.edu
| date =
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}* {{cite web
| title = SJGC Honors Alumni Spanning 40 Years with Thelma Thurston Gorham Award|author=Cara Hackett
| url = https://famusjgc.com/sjgc-honors-alumni-spanning-40-years-with-thelma-thurston-gorham-award%EF%BF%BC/
| website = FAMUSJGC.com
| date = November 4, 2022
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = FAMU journalism grad to be honored today
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 16
| date = Oct 26, 1995
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126328949/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Briefs; Worth Noting; Evans to receive Gorham award
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 14
| date = Oct 31, 1996
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126328976/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Briefs; FAMU; Journalism school names Gorham alumnus
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 12
| date = Nov 12, 1997
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126329031/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = FAMU graduate wins award for giving back to school
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 6
| date = Nov 3, 1999
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125440092/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Local; FAMU Homecoming; Alumna to receive journalism award
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 14
| date = Oct 26, 2000
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126329262/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Campus Notes; FAMU; WCTV anchor wins journalism award
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 22
| date = Oct 14, 2001
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126329290/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = FAMU to honor alumnus Tola Thompson
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 12
| date = Oct 31, 2002
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126329542/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = Journalism graduate honored tonight |author= Zwann Grays
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 11
| date = Oct 23, 2003
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126329652/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = FAMU grad honored
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 12
| date = Oct 21, 2004
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126330661/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = FAMU to honor distinguished alumnus with award
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 14
| date = Oct 27, 2006
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125440120/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = Price to receive Thelma Thurston Gorham Distinguished Alumnus Award |author= Gerald Easley
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 3
| date = Nov 1, 2007
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125440523/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = FAMU to honor Jackson, Miss, news anchor at luncheon
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 2
| date = Oct 30, 2008
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125440541/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = FAMU grad honored
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 4
| date = Oct 22, 2009
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125440104/
| access-date = Nov 17, 2023}}
- {{cite news
| title = FAMU journalism alumna honored
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 10
| date = Oct 28, 2010
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125440145/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = ESPN announcer Tiffany Greene receives Thelma Thurston Gorham Distinguished Alumnus Award |author=Rory Sharrock
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Tallahassee.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| date = Sep 19, 2019
| url = https://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/college/famu/2019/09/19/famu-grad-tiffany-greene-receives-distinguished-alumnus-award/2364494001/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
While Gorham had struggled for recognition and the opportunity for leadership in her later decades of academic service, including unheard of raises in her salary when external interests reviewed her situation, Gorham had been praised for her decades in actual newspaper editorialship. Gorham's leading of the Apache Sentinel in the 1940s was the stand-out example given by Carlotta Bass, editor-publisher of The California Eagle: "The most radical changes in Negro journalism came about during World War II.… for the first time in history a Negro woman was editor of an Army newspaper…." Her 1954 editorial series "How Ready Are We for Integration" was the reason for an award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews for Brotherhood Week of February 1955 was given to her newspaper. In 1961-2 Gorham was named as part of the Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly's first Public Information group, and officially represented the Bahá'ís of the United States at a university hosted conference amidst a panel, who also appeared on a pioneering news program co-hosted by a woman journalist. In the 1970s, though not named as leader, she helped found the first journalism program at FAMU and it went on to be the first HBCU to receive accreditation from the Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication's committee for accreditation (ACEJMC). Whatever the Gale group had in mind, their biography notes: "Up until the early 1980s, she was the most exciting black female journalist in the country." and "By the early 1980s she was still listed as one of only fifteen black women to finish (their education attaining degrees) from major universities belonging to the American Association of Schools and Departments of Journalism.""Thelma Thurston Gorham." Notable Black American Women. Gale, 1996. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. She was posthumously granted the PhD that is most often talked about as to why she was not named head of the new FAMU school that included journalism, as well as a career Meritorious Achievement Award.
From a Bahá'í perspective, her Tallahassee community went from her as the isolated adult in the capital of Florida, to the milestones of an assembly, albeit first elected without her living there, and then rising to hosting a Center, and ongoing activities. In some fashion, if the worldwide community was growing,{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Todd M. |last2=Grim |first2=Brian J. |date=26 March 2013 |title=The World's Religions in Figures: An Introduction to International Religious Demography |chapter=Global Religious Populations, 1910–2010 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CkFVF8nFiqkC |doi=10.1002/9781118555767.ch1 |isbn=9781118555767 |quote="The Baha'i Faith is the only religion to have grown faster in every United Nations region over the past 100 years than the general population; Bahaʼi (sic) was thus the fastest-growing religion between 1910 and 2010, growing at least twice as fast as the population of almost every UN region." |access-date=11 September 2022 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405051912/https://books.google.com/books?id=CkFVF8nFiqkC |url-status=live}} it would have grown without her. Yet it did, and with her. In Velda Piff Metelmann's 1997 biography Lua Getsinger, she details that there was a practice in the era around 1915 of naming “mothers” of regions and communities, sporadically done in other times, though this practice generally ended.Lua Getsinger - Herald of the Covenant, pp336See also Baharieh Rouhani Ma'ani (1998). "Interdependence of Baháʼí communities - services of North American Baháʼí women in Írán; Early American Baháʼí women who rendered outstanding service to Írán” in The Bahaʼi World. v20, pp. 1092–3 It may be that Gorham deserves this title "mother" for the Tallahassee Bahá'í community; that's up to them.
=Estate=
There was an Estate auction of her materials announced in July 2002,{{cite news
| title = Estate Auction
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 46
| date = Jul 24, 2002
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126329320/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }} which was acquired as the Gorham Collection at Museum in Library of Tallahassee Community College (TCC).* {{cite news
| title = Museum, TCC plan research center
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| pages = 13, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/126329605/ 14]
| date = Sep 13, 2003
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126329608/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite news
| title = TCC gets abolitionist papers |author= Gerald Easley
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| pages = 11, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/126330545/ 12]
| date = Sep 2, 2004
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/126330507/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
- {{cite web
| title = Thelma T Gorham Collection
| url = https://tcc.fl.libguides.com/c.php?g=322585&p=2159123
| website = TCC Riley Museum Archive
| date = Sep 15, 2022
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
Her son died October 22, 2009, and her granddaughter pre-deceased him, between 1992 and 2009.{{cite news
| title = Darryl T. Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 13
| date = Oct 25, 2009
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125440169/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
On what would have been her 100th birthday, the Bahá'ís of Tallahassee held a memorial with presenters Keith Miles, FAMU radio station manager, and James Hawkins, Dean of Journalism and Mass Media at FAMU.{{cite news
| title = Bahai (sic) community to honor the late Thelma Thurston Gorham
| newspaper = Tallahassee Democrat|via=Newspapers.com
| location = Tallahassee, FL
| page = 12
| date = Feb 18, 2012
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/125440136/
| access-date =Nov 17, 2023 }}
Bibliography
=Unpublished and undated=
- {{Citation
| title =Studies in Androgyny: Profiles of Four Black Women in the Mass Media |author= Thelma T. Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date =
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/7012}}
- {{Citation
| title =Pressure Groups and the Black Press|author= Thelma T. Gorham
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| series = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| orig-date =
| year = 2024
| url =https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item/7014}}
Further reading
- {{cite web
| url = https://rileyarchives.org/s/museumcollections/item-set/2361
| title = Thelma T. Gorham Collection
| date = 2024
| website = RileyArchives.org
| publisher = John G. Riley House Archives, Tallahassee Community College Library|location= Tallahassee, FL.
| access-date = Feb 23, 2024}}
- {{cite book
| editor-last = Smith
| editor-first = Jessie Carney
| editor-last2 = Phelps
| editor-first2 = Shirelle
| title =Notable Black American Women |chapter=Thelma Thurston Gorham
| publisher = Gale Research
| volume = 2
| date = 1992
| location = Detroit
| pages = 251-3
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ssMBzqrUpjwC |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ssMBzqrUpjwC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA251&pg=PA251
| isbn = 9780810391772 |oclc= 24468213}}
- {{cite book
| last = Wolseley
| first = Roland Edgar
| title = The Black Press, U.S.A.
| publisher = Iowa State University Press
| edition = 2nd
| date = 1990
| location = Ames, IA
| pages = 295-6
| isbn = 9780813804941 |oclc= 19624662}}
References
{{reflist}}