The Mind Has No Color
Anne Sanders was the oldest of seven children and grew up in the Dunbar Village housing development in the heart of one of West Palm Beach’s oldest black neighborhoods in Florida. She graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1962, dreaming of becoming a medical technologist.
She chose to attend Palm Beach Junior College for its science curriculum, although few African American students had attended previously. She managed to persuade a county School Board official (the School Board managed the College at the time) to admit her. She, and two other African American female students, started college in the fall of 1962, greeted by security guards and administrators on the front steps. While none of the white students demonstrated against them, Sanders recalled that some showed their disdain in the classroom.
She courageously proved herself with great success and graduated as the first African American student from Palm Beach Junior College. Her spiritual journey eventually brought her to New York, where she built a distinguished medical and clinical career while also finding her Guru, Paramahansa Yogananda. She attended the Self-Realization Fellowship New York Center regularly.
She also lived in California close to her Guru’s ashram and centers, especially the Encinitas temple. Her brilliant understanding of human and brain energy principles lends the interview a distinctly technical and scientific depth. Her constant introspection of her own life’s patterns and evolution provides an essay of spiritual analysis of the human psyche.
Her capacity for love, understanding, and forgiveness in the face of racism and prejudice serves as a remarkable example for anyone striving for peace and harmony. Even more touching is her deep compassion for others—particularly those in need—which opens the heart and inspires genuine humanity.
