Simeon Booker

Simeon Saunders Booker Jr. (August 27, 1918 – December 10, 2017) was an African-American journalist whose work appeared in leading news publications for more than 50 years. He was known for his journalistic works during the civil rights movement and for his coverage of the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till. He worked for The Washington Post, Jet, and Ebony.

Biography

Early years Born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Simeon Saunders Booker and Roberta Waring Booker, Booker moved with his family to Youngstown, Ohio, when he was five years old.

While attending Covington Street Elementary School in Youngstown, he wrote a poem that was published in the local newspaper, the Youngstown Vindicator.

While a high school student at The Rayen School (affectionately known as Rayen) in Youngstown, some of Booker's stories were published in the Baltimore Afro American, a prominent African American newspaper.

Education Booker graduated from high school in Youngstown and then enrolled at Youngstown College, but transferred to Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia, when he learned that Black students were denied activity cards at the YMCA-sponsored school. Booker was offered a prestigious Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University in 1950–51.

Booker retired in 2007 at the age of 88, after serving as Jets Washington Bureau chief for 51 years.

During his long career, Booker was recognized by his peers with numerous awards, including a Wilkie Award. In 1982, he became the first African-American journalist to win the National Press Club's Fourth Estate Award for lifetime contributions to journalism.

On January 17, 2013, Booker was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists' Hall of Fame. In 2015, he was awarded the George Polk Career Award.

In February 2017, 17 members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bipartisan bill nominating Booker for a Congressional Gold Medal.

Death Booker died on December 10, 2017, in Solomons, Maryland, from pneumonia-related complications, at the age of 99. He is survived by his wife Carol McCabe and three children: Simeon III, Theresa, and Theodore.

Published books Shocking the Conscience: A Reporter's Account of the Civil Rights Movement (University Press of Mississippi, April 2013) Susie King Taylor, Civil War Nurse (McGraw-Hill, June 1969) Black Man's America (Prentice-Hall, 1964)