Research Catalog

Title

Ron Simmons papers, 1972-2006.

Author

Simmons, Ron, 1950-

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Boykin, Keith.
• Hemphill, Essex.
• Romeo, Max.
• Riggs, Marlon T.

Description

6.4 lin. feet (6 record cartons, 1 archival box)

Summary

• The Ron Simmons papers contain manuscripts for several writings including "Some Thoughts on the Challenges Facing Black Intellectuals," "Faggotales," and other early writings dating to the 1970s, correspondence, a file for Simmons's editorial and layout work for Blacklight magazine, a copy of the "Torch" yearbook (1972), and clippings. Other items include a copy of writer Keith Boykin's dissertation "Black Gay Manifesto" (1992), and correspondence with colleagues such as filmmaker Marlon Riggs, writers Essex Hemphill, Audre Lorde, and Max Smith, and files for early black gay organizations including National Coalition of Black Gays and Lesbians, DC Black Gay Men and Women's Community Conference, Gay Men of African Descent, and periodicals such as BGM, BLK, and MOJA, the conference Black Nations/Queer Nations (1995), an interview with Sylvester (1992), and files of early mainstream gay publications.
• There are also subject files for homosexuality in Africa, Same Gender Loving, black LGBTQ artists, and general LGBTQ magazines, newsletters, flyers, and research files dating to the early 1970s.
• The collection also contains grant proposals written by Simmons for Us Helping Us (1994-2005), biographical statements, resumes, educational transcripts, and research papers.

Subjects

• AIDS (Disease) > United States
• Gay people
• Homosexuality
• Sexually transmitted diseases > United States
• Gay liberation movement
• Lesbians
• Gay men
• Us Helping Us, People into Living, Inc
• D.C. Black Gay Men and Women's Community Conference
• African American gays
• Black author
• AIDS (Disease) > United States > Prevention
• African American authors
• National Coalition of Black Gays and Lesbians
• Simmons, Ron, 1950-
• African Americans > Diseases
• AIDS (Disease) > Transmission > United States
• African Americans > Social conditions
• AIDS activists

Source (note)

• Ron Simmons;

Biography (note)

• Ron Simmons, an early Black LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer or Questioning) rights activist in the 1970s and 1980s, was instrumental in building Us Helping Us, People into Living, Inc., an HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care services organization that specializes in services for black gay and bisexual men. Simmons participated in a number of pioneering progressive black LGBT organizations including the National Coalition of Black Gays and the DC Coalition of Black Lesbian and Gay Men, and his seminal essay, "Some Thoughts on the Challenges Facing Black Gay Intellectuals," was featured in the groundbreaking anthology, Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men (1991). He was also a cast member, photographer and field producer for Marlon Riggs' Tongues Untied (1987), the first documentary to specifically deal with black gay identity.
• Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Simmons' political sensibilities were roused while in college at the State University of New York at Albany, where he received his B.A. in Afro-American Studies (1972) and M.A. in African History (1978), and M.S. in Educational Communications (1979). In 1972, Simmons served as the editor-in-chief of SUNYA's undergraduate yearbook, "Torch," which, for its time, contained controversial issues and images dealing with homosexuality and the Vietnam War. In 1973, as a graduate student, he penned "Faggotales," arguably the first column written specifically from a black gay male perspective for the school newspaper. Simmons received his Ph.D. in Mass Communications from Howard University (1987) and was an assistant Professor at the university where he taught courses in mass communication, history and theory, radio and television production, still photography, black film and research methods from 1986-1992.

Call Number

Sc MG 619

OCLC

78622534

Author

Simmons, Ron, 1950-

Title

Ron Simmons papers, 1972-2006.

Biography

Ron Simmons, an early Black LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer or Questioning) rights activist in the 1970s and 1980s, was instrumental in building Us Helping Us, People into Living, Inc., an HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care services organization that specializes in services for black gay and bisexual men. Simmons participated in a number of pioneering progressive black LGBT organizations including the National Coalition of Black Gays and the DC Coalition of Black Lesbian and Gay Men, and his seminal essay, "Some Thoughts on the Challenges Facing Black Gay Intellectuals," was featured in the groundbreaking anthology, Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men (1991). He was also a cast member, photographer and field producer for Marlon Riggs' Tongues Untied (1987), the first documentary to specifically deal with black gay identity.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Simmons' political sensibilities were roused while in college at the State University of New York at Albany, where he received his B.A. in Afro-American Studies (1972) and M.A. in African History (1978), and M.S. in Educational Communications (1979). In 1972, Simmons served as the editor-in-chief of SUNYA's undergraduate yearbook, "Torch," which, for its time, contained controversial issues and images dealing with homosexuality and the Vietnam War. In 1973, as a graduate student, he penned "Faggotales," arguably the first column written specifically from a black gay male perspective for the school newspaper. Simmons received his Ph.D. in Mass Communications from Howard University (1987) and was an assistant Professor at the university where he taught courses in mass communication, history and theory, radio and television production, still photography, black film and research methods from 1986-1992.

Connect to:

Finding Aid

Local Subject

Black author.

Added Author

Boykin, Keith.

Hemphill, Essex.

Romeo, Max.

Riggs, Marlon T.

Research Call Number

Sc MG 619