Roscoe Simmons employer Chicago Defender
Career
Simmons began his career as a reporter for the Pensacola Daily Press before moving to the Chicago Defender, where the growing popularity of his columns made him that newspaper's highest-paid employee and a staple of its front page. During World War I he reported from Europe on the conditions of African-American soldiers in the U.S. Army. During this time he earned the nickname "the Colonel," though reportedly never left Paris, having become "distracted by its allure and its women."We have but one flag, the flag that set us free. Its language is our only tongue, and no hyphen bridges or qualifies our loyalty. Today the nation faces danger from a foreign foe, treason skulks and stalks up and down our land, in dark councils intrigue is being hatched. Woodrow Wilson is my leader. What he commands me to do I shall do. Where he commands me to go I shall go. If he calls me to the colors I shall not ask whether my colonel is black or white. I shall be there to pick out no color except the white of the enemy's eyes.He was a member of the Colored Knights of Pythias. He delivered the main address in the 1929 general meeting.In the 1920s, he worked as the editor of The Chicago Defender, a black weekly paper published out of Chicago, Illinois. While editor, he was president of the Lincoln League and helmed the Speaker's Bureau, Western Division.In 1936, Simmons passed the bar and became a lawyer.
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