Simmons, Roscoe Conkling, 1881-1951

Roscoe Conkling Simmons was an African-American orator, civic leader, journalist and politician. He was born in 1878 in Greenview, Mississippi, and graduated from Tuskegee Institute in 1899. He served as head of the Colored Division of the the Speakers' Bureau Republican National Committee in 1920, 1924, and 1928. He was an advisor to three American presidents. He worked for the Chicago Defender from 1916 through the mid-1930s, and for the Chicago Tribune from the late 1940's until his death in 1951.

Roscoe Conkling Simmons (1878-1951) was an African American Republican, advisor to presidents Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover; and a spokesman for black interests in the United States. He began his career as a reporter for the Pensacola Daily Press (1899); and eventually become a columnist and sales representative for the Chicago Defender (1913). Simmons helped the Defender achieve the widest circulation of any black newspaper in the country. Simmons supported the involvement of African Americans in political leadership positions and was a strong supporter of Theodore Roosevelt's bid for the presidency in 1912. During World War I Simmons traveled to Europe to report on the conditions of black soldiers and to help counter German propaganda efforts designed to undermine African American support for the war. In 1920, Simmons met with delegates from 31 states to organize the Lincoln League of America to promote the voting rights of African Americans, improved educational opportunities, social equality, and to protest against the lynching of African Americans in the South. His oratory skills were widely recognized and Simmons served as Chairman of the Colored Speaker's Bureau of the Republican National Committee during the presidential election campaigns of 1920, 1924, and 1928. In 1932, Simmons seconded the nomination of Herbert Hoover for the presidency and managed Hoover's campaign among African Americans. In 1936, he led a successful fight to replace an all-white South Carolina Republican delegation with an integrated one. During the 1940s, Simmons was a featured writer for the Chicago Tribune. In his column The Untold Story, Simmons emphasized cooperation among black and white Americans and told stories of successful African Americans.