James M. Simms
James M. Simms | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 27, 1823 Savannah, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | July 9, 1912 (aged 88) Savannah, Georgia, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
James Merilus Simms (December 27, 1823 – July 9, 1912)[1][2] was an African-American minister, newspaper publisher, author, and elected representative in the Georgia Assembly during the Reconstruction era.[3][4]
Simms was born a slave in Savannah, Georgia. A carpenter by trade, he bought his freedom in 1857. In around 1864, having been condemned for teaching slaves, he was sentenced to be publicly whipped and fined $100. He left Savannah for Boston and became a chaplain in the Union Army,[5] later returning to his home district. Simms may have been the same person as the James M. Symms whose company published an edition of The Black Man in 1863.[6]
Simms and his African-American colleagues in the Georgia Assembly were prohibited from taking office after a vote by their colleagues. Federal intervention in 1870 overturned the discriminatory action. He wrote about his church's history in Savannah, Georgia.[7]
In 1870, he supported the Baptist minister and Assembly delegate Ulysses L. Houston in occupying the Bryan County Baptist Church, which had been taken over by his rival Alexander Harris; for their role in this protest, Houston and Simms were both arrested.[8]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Brief history of James Merilus Simms at the James M. Simms Lodge of Research website
- ^ Emanuel King Love, Deacon James M. Simms in History of the First African Baptist Church, Morning news print, 1888
- ^ James M. Simms by Karen Ruffle, Documenting the South
- ^ Leslie Harris; Daina Ramey Berry (2014). Slavery and Freedom in Savannah. University of Georgia Press. pp. 185–. ISBN 978-0-8203-4410-2.
- ^ Mary Ellen Snodgrass (2009). Civil Disobedience: A-Z entries. Sharpe Reference. ISBN 978-0-7656-8127-0.
- ^ Alice Fahs (2003). The Imagined Civil War: Popular Literature of the North & South, 1861-1865. Univ of North Carolina Press. pp. 346–. ISBN 978-0-8078-5463-1.
- ^ The First Colored Baptist Church in North America Constituted at Savannah, Georgia, January 20, A.D. 1788. With Biographical Sketches of the Pastors: (Electronic Edition) Simms, James M. (James Meriles)
- ^ Edmund L. Drago (1992). Black Politicians and Reconstruction in Georgia: A Splendid Failure. University of Georgia Press. pp. 73–. ISBN 978-0-8203-1438-9.
- 1823 births
- 1912 deaths
- African-American politicians during the Reconstruction Era
- African-American state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state)
- African-American writers
- African-American Baptist ministers
- Original 33
- 19th-century American slaves
- American carpenters
- People from Savannah, Georgia
- Georgia (U.S. state) Republicans
- 20th-century African-American people