Today's Date: March 29, 2024
Amerex Group Unveils Red Carter Swimwear's Revitalized Collection   •   Re:wild and Colossal Biosciences team up to leverage revolutionary technology to save critically endangered species on the brink   •   Chosgo K23: One of the Best Bluetooth Hearing Aids for Seniors   •   Make-A-Wish and celebrity wish granters announce goal to recruit 1 million people to become "WishMakers"   •   Fosun Management on 2023 Annual Results: Focusing on Core Industries with Established Advantages   •   Empire State Realty Trust Receives WELL Health-Safety Leadership Award; Becomes Among the First Commercial Office and Multifamil   •   Sypher Secures Strategic Partnership with FAIA to Fuel Growth   •   National University Receives 2024 Military Friendly® Gold Designation   •   Jamieson Wellness Publishes Inaugural Sustainability Impact Report   •   Coachella Concerned That People Have Sex, Says AHF   •   Anaergia Announces Delay in the Filing of Its Audited Financial Statements and Related Disclosures   •   Equalpride Partners with TransLash Media for Trans Day of Visibility, Amplifying Voices of Black Trans Femmes in the Arts   •   YMCA of the USA Partners With Old Spice To Increase High School Graduation Among Boys And Young Men Of Color Through Mentorship   •   VIRGIN HOTELS CHAMPIONS INCLUSIVE TRAVEL FOR NEURODIVERSE TRAVELERS   •   Midea Group releases its first-ever ESG brand story with an unexpected VIP visit highlighting its commitment to sustainability.   •   Suffolk Kicks off 2024 “Build With Us @ Suffolk” Program in Boston for Trade Partners, Opening Doors for Minority-,   •   Carnegie Learning Named 2024 SIIA CODiE Award Finalist for Best Educational Game and Best AI Implementation in Ed Tech   •   Parkland Corporation Announces the Results of the 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders   •   Visit Visalia Recognizes Autism Awareness Month in April   •   Anaergia Announces Escrow Closing of Second Tranche of the Strategic Investment
Bookmark and Share

Former Berkeley Rights Activist Dies In Africa

 BERKELEY — Kenneth Harlan Simmons, a professor emeritus of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, died of cancer in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 6 at the age of 77. He was known for his work in equal rights, urban planning and community development from San Francisco to Detroit, Harlem and South Africa.

 

Simmons was born June 28, 1933, in Muskogee, Okla. His father, Jacob Simons Jr., who attended the Tuskegee Institute and founded the Simmons Royalty Company, was considered the most successful African American in the history of the oil industry.

 

During Simmons’ summer breaks from high school and college, he worked as an oil field hand and tool dresser on family-owned oil drilling rigs.

 

Simmons earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from HarvardUniversity in 1954 and a bachelor’s degree in architecture from UC Berkeley in 1969.

 

He joined UC Berkeley a lecturer in architecture in 1968 and became an associate professor there in 1969. Simmons played a lead role in helping the university to divest from South Africa and helped establish the Black Environmental Student Association at UC Berkeley.

 

Simmons also worked as an architect and planner.  He was a partner with Ishimaru, Oneill and Simmons and the Community Design Collaborative, both in Oakland, Calif., and with the Bay Group Associates architectural, planning, environmental research and design firm in San Francisco.

 

Some of his most noted work included the Dock of the Bay restaurant near the Berkeley Marina, the BlackRepertoryCommunity Center in Berkeley, and the Robert Pitts public housing development in San Francisco.

 

While an architect and professor at UC Berkeley, Simons was appointed to the East Bay Municipal Utility District Board of Directors, where he helped to establish the district’s affirmative action program and contract equity program.

 

Simmons also was a director of the New Oakland Committee civic organization; co-director of the Architects Renewal Committee of Harlem, New York; coordinator for housing and community development for the San Francisco Equal Opportunity Council; and project director of the Urban America Hunts Point Multi-Service Center in South Bronx, New York.

 

“We were both on the faculty at UC Berkeley, where he was an inspiration to students and was of crucial practical help to many of them in following whatever goals they set out for themselves,” said Sara Ishikawa, one of Simmons’ Community Design Collective partners and a UC Berkeley professor emerita of architecture.

 

John Liu, a former UC Berkeley lecturer and a partner of Community Design Collaborative with Simmons in the 1980s, said Simmons inspired some of his own work in Taiwan involving social justice and community participation. “Right ideas have no boundaries,” Liu said.

 

Henry Ramsey Jr., a retired Alameda County Superior Court judge who met Simmons while Ramsey was a UC Berkeley law student, called Simmons “a powerful force for meaningful social and political change throughout his adult life.”

 

Shortly after retiring from UC Berkeley in 1994, Simmons began teaching at University Of The Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, first at the School of Town and Regional Planning and later at the School of Architecture.  He also worked for the city planning department in Sandton, near Johannesburg.

 

At Witwatersrand, Simmons advocated for increasing the numbers of black students enrolling at the previously mostly white university. At a public speaking engagement, he recalled how he advised students: “First, I gave my students actual academic credit if they could demonstrate they were helping other students...And then I would try to address their feelings of inadequacy. 'How many languages do you speak?' I would ask them. Almost always, the black kids would say five, six or eight or nine.” Simmons said he would tell the students that some of their teachers and fellow students who might try to make them feel stupid speak two languages at the most.

 

Simmons loved jazz, books and art, and was well known for supporting community artists.  He was a lifetime member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

 

Kenneth married his first wife, Christine Morgan, in 1955, and they had two children, Margot and Kenneth II.  With Joyce Redmond, he had one daughter, Annette.  He married Gloria Burkhalter in 1988, and they had one daughter, Jalia.

 

Simmons is survived by his companion, Sebiletso Mokone of Johannesburg; four children, Margot Simmons of Baltimore, Md.; Kenneth II of Johannesburg, Annette Redmond-Simmons of San Jose, Calif., and Jalia Burkhalter-Simmons of Oakland, Calif.; five grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews and friends.

 

A memorial service for Simmons will be held at 3 p.m. on Aug. 21 in the Newton-Seale Conference Room in the R-Building of MerrittCollege,

12500 Campus Dr., Oakland
.

 



Back to top
| Back to home page
Video

White House Live Stream
LIVE VIDEO EVERY SATURDAY
alsharpton Rev. Al Sharpton
9 to 11 am EST
jjackson Rev. Jesse Jackson
10 to noon CST


Video

LIVE BROADCASTS
Sounds Make the News ®
WAOK-Urban
Atlanta - WAOK-Urban
KPFA-Progressive
Berkley / San Francisco - KPFA-Progressive
WVON-Urban
Chicago - WVON-Urban
KJLH - Urban
Los Angeles - KJLH - Urban
WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
New York - WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
WADO-Spanish
New York - WADO-Spanish
WBAI - Progressive
New York - WBAI - Progressive
WOL-Urban
Washington - WOL-Urban

Listen to United Natiosns News