Ron Simmons papers

1972-2006

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 LGBTQ 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's Tongues Untied (1987), the first documentary to specifically deal with Black gay identity.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Simmons's political sensibilities were roused while in college at the State University of New York at Albany(SUNY Albany), where he received his B.A. in Afro-American Studies (1972), M.A. in African History (1978), and M.S. in Educational Communications (1979). In 1972, Simmons served as the editor-in-chief of SUNY Albany'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 served as an assistant professor in mass communication, history and theory, radio and television production, still photography, and Black film and research methods from 1986-1992.