William Simmons
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William J Simmons (1849 - 1890)

William J Simmons
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, United Statesmap
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married 25 Aug 1874 in District of Columbia, United Statesmap
Died at age 41 in Louisville, Jefferson, Kentucky, United Statesmap
Profile last modified | Created 13 Jun 2021
This page has been accessed 346 times.
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Contents

Biography

Notables Project
William Simmons is Notable.

William Joseph Simmons was a minister, educator, editor and writer. Born into slavery to Edward and Esther Simmons in Charleston, South Carolina. Esther and three of her children escaped from slavery and settled in Bordertown, New Jersey, where William worked as a dentist's apprentice before joining the Union army in 1864. As an undergraduate, he attended Madison University, Rochester University and Howard Universtity, where he earned a BA in arts in 1873. [1] He married Josephine in 1874 [2]

Works

  • Men of Mark; Eminent, Progressive and Rising

by Simmons, William J., 1849-1890, 1968. https://archive.org/details/menmarkeminentp00turngoog (Publication date 1968 Topics African Americans Publisher New York, Arno Press Collection americana Digitizing sponsor Google Book from the collections of Harvard University Language English)

  • American Baptist newspaper/ editor

Research Notes

Simmons, William J. (born: 1849 - died: 1890) William J. Simmons was the second president of Kentucky Normal and Theological Institute (later Simmons College of Kentucky). He was an education advocate who fought for better education for African American children. He was editor of the American Baptist newspaper and established Eckstein Norton Institute in Cain Springs, KY. Simmons was the author of Men of Mark (1887), the forerunner to the irregular serial publication, Who's Who of the Colored Race. Simmons was also an activist; while serving as chair of the executive committee of the Convention of Colored Men of Kentucky, he was the first African American to speak before the Kentucky Legislature on the injustices put upon African Americans in Kentucky. For more see Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1879-1930, by L. H. Williams; and Life Behind a Veil, by G. C. Wright.

  • [3]Born into slavery in Charleston, South Carolina on June 29, 1849, William J. Simmons served as the second president of what would later become Simmons College of Kentucky between 1880 and 1890. He was also a prominent historian and biographer of African American men. Simmons’s parents were Edward and Esther Simmons. When William was a child, he and his mother escaped to Bordentown, New Jersey.

William J. Simmons’ connection to the ministry began early. According to the 1860 census, his mother resided in the home of a Methodist Episcopal minister, Abram Griffens, while William lived nearby in the home of an African American bootmaker. Simmons also briefly worked as an apprentice to a dentist. Toward the end of the Civil War, he served for a time with the Union Army. After the war, Simmons attended several schools and colleges before graduating from Howard University in 1873. Simmons then taught school in Washington, D.C., and Florida.

In 1879, Simmons assumed his first pastorate at the First Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky. One year later, he was named president of the Normal and Theological Institute in Louisville. Like many black colleges during the late nineteenth century, the institution Simmons led emphasized religious studies, vocational education, and racial pride for its students. Simmons died on October 30, 1890 in his tenth year as president of the Normal and Theological Institute. In 1918, twenty-eight years after his death in 1890, the Baptist trustees renamed the institution Simmons College of Kentucky as a tribute to his leadership.

Simmons is best known for his 1887 work, Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive, and Rising. The book was a compilation of brief biographies of 177 prominent African American men from across the United States. Men of Mark was a best seller and the single largest collection of African American biographies.

Simmons and his wife, the former Josephine A. Silence, raised seven children. Despite her deceased husband’s prominence, Josephine Silence Simmons was forced to work as a washerwoman for the U.S. government to support her family. Their eldest daughters, Josephine and Effie, also worked as seamstresses. By 1920, Effie followed in her father’s footsteps by becoming a school teacher.

Sources

  1. "Simmons, William Joseph" Smith, Gerald L., Karen Cotton McDaniel, and John A. Hardin (Editors) The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia. 2015. p. 451.
  2. * Marriage: "District of Columbia Marriages, 1830-1921"
    citing Digital film/folder number: 004259002; FHL microfilm: 2107690; Record number: 259; Packet letter: C
    FamilySearch Record: F71L-D2G (accessed 18 November 2023)
    William J Simmons marriage to Josephine A. Garrett on 25 Aug 1874 in District of Columbia, United States.
  3. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/simmons-william-j-1849-1890/

See Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simmons_College_of_Kentucky





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