Simmons, Roscoe Conkling, 1881-1951
Dates
- Existence: 1878 - 1951
Biographical note
Roscoe Conkling Simmons (born 1878 or 1881, died 1951) was an African-American orator, civic leader, journalist and politician. He graduated from Tuskegee Institute in 1899. He served as head of the Colored Division of the Speakers' Bureau of the 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.
Footnote on birth date
The date of his birth is uncertain. Obituaries state his age in 1951 as anywhere between Simmons' own assertion that he was sixty-three and his oldest friends' statements that place his age nearer to seventy-five. A birth date of June 20,1878 in Greenview Mississippi is listed in the earliest inventories of his papers produced by the Harvard University Archives. A passport appliction holds a 1918 certification of birth signed by his parents that state the year and place of his birth as 1881 in Macon, Mississippi. See Kaye, Andrew M. Roscoe Conkling Simmons and the Mechanics of Black Leaderhisp, 1899-1951 (Thesis, doctoral--University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2002), p. 23 for a full note on the evidence for various dates and places of birth.
Found in 90 Collections and/or Records:
Roscoe Simmons, three-quarter-length portrait, standing with hands in pockets, 1910s
Studio portrait.
Roscoe Simmons, three-quarter-length portrait, standing with hands in pockets, 1910s
Studio portrait.
Roscoe Simmons, three-quarter-length portrait, standing with hands in pockets, 1910s
Studio portrait.
Roscoe Simmons, three-quarter-length portrait, standing with hands in pockets, 1915
Studio portrait. Inscribed on front: Ever, Roscoe Simmons.
Roscoe Simmons, three-quarter-length portrait, standing with hands in pockets, 1915
Studio portrait.
Roscoe Simmons, three-quarter-length portrait, standing with newspaper and cigar in one hand and walking stick in the other hand, 1915
Studio portrait.
Roscoe Simmons, three-quarter-length portrait, standing with newspaper and cigar in one hand and walking stick in the other hand, 1915
Studio portrait.
Roscoe Simmons, three-quarter-length portrait, standing with newspaper one hand and walking stick in the other hand, 1910s
Studio portrait, retouched.
Roscoe Simmons, three-quarter-length portrait, standing with one hand in pocket, 1910s
Studio portrait, retouched. Inscribed on back: Return to Ellis D. Kiger, Chicago Defender.
Roscoe Simmons, three-quarter-length portrait, standing with reading glasses in hand, 1910s
Studio portrait, retouched.
Roscoe Simmons with hosts and organizers at Marked Tree, Arkansas, June 22, 1941, for dedication of Booker T. Washington statue, 1941
Roscoe Simmons's oldest son Roscoe Conkling Simmons Jr., 1910
Studio portrait.
Papers of Roscoe Conkling Simmons, 1875-1951
Roscoe Conkling Simmons Collection, 1917-1951 and undated.
The Roscoe Conkling Simmons Collection provides a glimpse into the political activities of Roscoe Conkling Simmons, African American Republican and advisor to presidents, from 1917 to 1951. Correspondence in this collection illustrates Simmons' demand as a public speaker; photographs reveal Simmons' involvement in political campaigns; and writings and biographical materials highlight the esteem in which Simmons was held in by his contemporaries.
Young People's Department of the Colored Division of the Republican National Committee, 1936
Publicity photograph and attached press release for the campaign to elect Kansas Governor Alf Landon, Republican Party nominee in the 1936 presidential election. Pictured, in front row, from left to right: Myrtle Stryker, director of the Young Women'ss Department; Arthur M. Curtis, assistant to the chairman of the Republican National Committee; Cornelius R. Richardson, associate director of the Colored Division; Roscoe Simmons, director of the Speakers Bureau; and Robert Kratky.
REFINE MY RESULTS:
- Type
- Archival Object 88
- Collection 2