Zellner, Bob

Bob Zellner was born in Montgomery, Alabama on April 5, 1939. Bob’s father was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and his mother was a Muskogee (Creek) Indian. In the 1930’s his father was a missionary in Germany to convert Jews. and in World War Two he was an American soldier fighting the Nazis – again in Germany: both experiences convinced him to renounce his racist ways – and those of the culture in which he was raised. This was the time of the Jim Crow laws: there were separate facilities that governed all aspects of life. Bob recalls that the black and white children played together and that he couldn’t understand why they had to go to separate schools and drink from different fountains. Bob became involved in the civil rights movement, and he has dedicated his life to reversing the injustices he saw in his early days. He joined the Freedom Riders and participated in many non-violent protests; his parents supported his involvement, and his mother asked only that he graduate, and learn speech and typewriting! Bob and later his younger brother Malcolm attended the Highlander Folk School (Highlander Research and Education Center) in New Market, Tennessee, a social justice leadership training school and cultural center founded in 1932. Rosa Parks took part in sessions there prior to the 1955 bus case in Montgomery, Alabama, and Bob was able to meet civil rights luminaries like her and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Bob was part of numerous civil rights organizations, including CORE and the SNCC, and he was a founding member of GROW.  Then and now he has dedicated his life to civil rights and social justice, and Crestwood students were very fortunate to meet him via zoom in May 2026.