By Catherine Pugh
Special to the AFRO
Dr. Charles Simmons, the lead architect and founder of Sojourner-Douglass College, a once influential independent institution of higher learning died on Jan. 26 at age 87. Funeral services will be held March 6, at Vaughn Greene Funeral Services, 8728 Liberty Road Randallstown, MD 21133.
Friends will be received from 10:00 a.m. until 10:30 a.m., with funeral services to follow. Immediately following the funeral, the interment will be held at Garrison Forest Veterans Cemetery at 1 p.m.
Born on June 17, 1938, Simmons devoted nearly half of his life to building pipelines of education for non traditional students. The institution he built rose from the dreams of men and women seeking new opportunities for the struggling masses of Baltimore City. It grew to mainly educate African Americans and others of the African Diaspora to assume control of their own destinies no matter their age, no matter their standing in society, through experimental and what many defined as Afrocentric learning.
Simmons gave his last AFRO interview in Spring 2023. This week, the publication revisits the conversation, never before published.
At the time, Simmons invited AFRO readers to turn back the clock some 50 years to fully understand his journey, one that took him from the projects of Baltimore to the 23-year presidency of an independent college:
It was the early 1970s when the experiences of Simmons’s life became the driving force in the development of Sojourner-Douglass College. Baltimore, as with major cities throughout the country, was witnessing significant change and challenges.
The stage for creating a second Baltimore-based, Black-focused institution of higher learning (after then-Morgan State College), had already been set by 1970, according to Simmons. Reports on population and educational attainment had documented that the city, as with so many urban areas nationally, was seeing declines in population, particularly among Whites, as well as other significant trends.
Baltimore City was experiencing a loss of economic strength, a falling tax base, closures of businesses and an increase in lower-income residents, which demanded an increase in government spending for basic social services. This became a pressure point, as budgets waned with the declining economy—just when greater investments were needed.
Services under pressure included the city’s public school system. The growth of the Black public school population was increasing considerably. Meanwhile, Black high school graduation rates were flat and dropout rates were rising. Statistics showed only 10 percent of Baltimore’s Black community at the time had attended one or more years of college.
With the trends what they were, a trained workforce was needed if things were to quickly improve. Baltimore City had to respond with a steady stream of educated workers.
Recognizing the hardships that were unfolding, a group of dedicated African-American community servants and thinkers, particularly in the education field, knew they had to come together to develop solutions; Simmons was among them. He had transitioned from a union job with the Teamsters, to working for the Baltimore City Health Department in various capacities, including director of health education and community organization.
As Simmons described the 2023 interview, “We began mobilizing community groups, leaders and the local council of churches and engaged in discussions around the educational needs of Baltimore residents.”
An additional institution of higher learning was one of the objectives. Today, the names involved in a variety of educational initiatives, including the creation of what would one day become Sojourner-Douglass College, reads like a roll call in Baltimore’s Black history: Allen V. Carter Sr., Richard M. Moore, Rev. William Johnson, Marian V. Stanton and Simmons.
Together, they established Adult Education, Inc., a non-profit organization. Simmons was the group member charged with working directly with leaders at Antioch College. The institution, based in Yellow Springs, Ohio, had established a branch campus in Baltimore, from which Simmons had graduated in June 1970 with a degree in urban development and sociology). He also liaised with local community activists, clergy and elected officials, including Walter P. Carter, Sampson Green, Dr. Homer Favor, Rev. Chester I. Wickwire, John Burleigh, Richard M Moore, Rev. William Johnson, Marian V. Stanton, Rev. Marion C. Bascome and Congressman Parren J. Mitchell.
“It was Coretta Scott King and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who sat on the board of Antioch College, that encouraged its president, Dr. James P. Dixon, to reach out to minority communities that were interested in the education of underserved communities. That helped get the ball rolling,” Simmons recalled. “Coretta reached out to Walter P. Carter , who informed me of the opportunity, and we moved forward from there.”
Under the mentorship of Gwen James-Davis, then the director of the Antioch Branch Campus in North Minneapolis, Minn., the group began planning a community-controlled Antioch branch campus to be based in Baltimore City. “Together we shaped the concept of an affiliate center that would eventually spin off to become an independent, community-controlled college — Sojourner-Douglass,” Simmons explained.
“I’ve been a critical thinker most of my life,” Simmons said, in describing his decision to work with the group on such a difficult venture of establishing a college. “A lot of my early life was involved with interaction and collaborating with people, seeking and exploring innovative ideas about how to solve problems.”
Among the influences on Simmons’ thinking and pursuits, he explained, was the 1954 Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education ruling. “I saw and experienced firsthand what did not do, including providing equal education to Black children.”
Simmons grew up in Baltimore’s Poe Homes, projects designated for Black families. It was the exposure to segregation that established Simmons’ belief that if African Americans are to become self-sufficient, it is essential to introduce, at an early age, broader ideas about self-determination and self-governance.
“Growing up in segregated Baltimore exposed me to overt discrimination that shaped my thinking and eventual pursuit to building an institution that would give African-American adults an opportunity to pursue their dreams of obtaining a college degree,” Simmons said.
He noted that while growing up in a segregated environment meant some life options were unavailable, there were some positives. “While the projects were segregated,” Simmons said, “it was a closed environment that brought Black families together. Our parents knew each other, they supported each other and were organized. Inside the projects were men and women clubs and recreational facilities on the premises.”
Many of those relationships continued throughout their lives, he recalled, and many grew to be successful as adults. “Some of the families whose children were around my age emerged from the projects into professionals and community leaders like Judge Valerie Watts, Housing Commissioner now-developer Danny Henson, and so many others,” he said.
Including, of course, Simmons, the president of an institution of higher learning.
Sojourner-Douglass College: Reframing dreams through experimental learning
The Homestead-Montebello Center of Antioch College (HMC-Antioch) was established in 1972 as an independent institution of higher education, with standing as a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization. It began with 18 students in a four-room parish house of a former church at 30th St. and Hillen Road — the White parishioners had moved out and turned the church building and grounds over to the Black community, Simmons explained.
By 1980, the institution had grown, and the Homestead-Montebello Center separated from Antioch College and changed its name to Sojourner-Douglass College, in honor of the two Black abolitionist leaders that Simmons and his group revered: Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass.
The vision of Sojourner-Douglass College to empower the community and underserved populations through experimental learning continued to develop—even in the face of hardships tied to financial problems.
Simmons points to more than 8,000 students who received undergraduate and master’s degrees from Sojourner-Douglass. The college expanded to include satellite campuses in Annapolis, Cambridge, Salisbury, Owings Mills, Lanham, and even in the Caribbean, in Nassau, the Bahamas.
However, the financial problems that had continued to amass over the years grew more severe and eventually took its toll— Sojourner-Douglas lost its accreditation in 2015. A lawsuit against the Middle States Commission on Higher Education was unsuccessful, and by May of 2016, its central campus facility and administrative building were put up for sale.
While Sojourner-Douglass no longer exists, Simmons said the lessons to be learned from how so many Baltimoreans joined together in conceiving, founding and building the institution still speak loudly and are experiences worth sharing.
“We positively changed lives for thousands of oppressed Maryland African Americans and Bahamian residents through the college’s concentration on ‘education for self-determination and employment,’” Simmons said.
“We equipped them with technical skills commensurate with their chosen field and empowered them with the ability to positively impact the social challenges that the community and educated people of African descent face.”
And Simmons said that the awards and rewards for the college’s committed faculty and staff were many and also memorable. “So many people walked through our doors as directors, teachers, board members. We, I believe, made a difference,” Simmons said, proudly, adding, “Our impact will be felt for years to come.”