The North Louisiana Civil Rights Commission is deeply saddened to announced that our co-founder and honorary chairman, the great and legendary Dr. Cuthbert Ormond “C.O.” Simpkins I, D.D.S., transitioned to his eternal rest on December 4, 2019.
Simpkins was a founding member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in the 1950s, serving closely with his friend Martin Luther King, Jr.
Cuthbert Ormond Simpkins I was born in 1925 in Mansfield, LA. He attended Wiley College and Tennessee State University, where he received his undergraduate degree. He earned a Doctorate of Dental Surgery from Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry in Nashville, Tennessee. He served in the United States Air Force as a Captain until 1951 and returned to Shreveport to practice dentistry.
Simpkins’ civil rights activities focused on voting rights. He was harassed by the Ku Klux Klan, elected officials and law enforcement. Simpkins invited Dr. King to Shreveport to call attention to the racial problems here. His home and office were firebombed, and he ultimately moved to New York, where he continued his civil rights advocacy.
After 26 years in New York, he returned to Shreveport and ran for mayor. Simpkins lost the mayor’s race but won a seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives, representing District 4 from 1992–1996. He retired in 2011 but continues to be a community advocate. He and his wife donated land for a community clinic in an underserved neighborhood. Simpkins is Honorary chairman and founder of the NLCRC, along with Dr. Harry Blake, and Dr. C.E. McLain.
Simpkins’s civil rights activities focused on voting rights. He was harassed by the Ku Klux Klan, elected officials and law enforcement. Simpkins invited Dr. King to Shreveport to call attention to the racial problems here. His home and office were firebombed, and he ultimately moved to New York where he continued his civil rights advocacy.
After 26 years in New York, he returned to Shreveport and ran for mayor. Simpkins lost the mayor’s race but won a seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives, representing District 4 from 1992–1996. He retired in 2011 but continues to be a community advocate. He and his wife donated land for a community clinic in an underserved neighborhood. Simpkins is Honorary chairman and founder of the NLCRC, along with Dr. Harry Blake, and Dr. C.E. McLain.
Simpkins is survived by his wife Elaine Shoemaker Simpkins, Ph.D., a biochemist; his children Cuthbert Ormond Simpkins II, MD, of Shreveport, Deborah Simpkins-Savage of California, Eric Simpkins of Washington, DC, Cheri Simpkins Gardner of Washington, DC, and Alicia Ritchens of Australia; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Family visitation is planned for Friday afternoon at Galilee Baptist Church on Pierre Avenue. Dr. Simpkins will lie in state from 1 PM on Friday, December 13, until the family visitation which begins at 3 PM.
The Celebration of Dr. Simpkins’s life will be held at the church starting at noon on Saturday, December 14.