Grace E. Simons was an activist who lived in Los Angeles and is known for her work in preserving

Elysian Park Elysian Park is one of the largest parks in Los Angeles, California, United States, at 600 acres (240 ha). Most of Elysian Park falls in the neighborhood of the same name, but a small portion of the park falls in Echo Park. The park was created ...

as open space.

Biography

Simons was born in 1901 and grew up in Chicago. In 1925 she moved to China where she met her sister, the journalist

Rayna Prohme Rayna Prohme (1894 - 1927) was a journalist who covered the communist movement in China in the late 1920s. Biography She was born Rayna Simons, the daughter of a successful Jewish businessman. She graduated from the University of Illinois in 19 ...

.She left Beijing in 1926 to travel, and then married Wilbur Burton on July 9, 1928 in Atlanta, Georgia. Simons and Burton returned to China, this time to Shanghei where Simons first worked in a bank, and then the news agency

Agence Havas Havas NV () is a French multinational advertising and public relations company, with its registered office and head office in Puteaux, France. Havas operates in more than 100 countries. The group is structured into three main operational div ...

. Simons returned to the United States in 1937 and married Frank Glass, a journalist she had met in China. Simons moved to California in 1939, where she would work as a writer and as the executive editor of the ''

California Eagle ''The California Eagle'' (1879–1964) was a newspaper in Los Angeles for African Americans. It was founded as ''The Owl'' in 1879 and later renamed ''Eagle'' by John J. Neimore. Charlotta Bass became the owner of the paper after Neimore's death ...

'', an African American newspaper in Los Angeles, for fourteen years. While working at the ''California Eagle'', Simons interacted with multiple people including

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

, the concert artist Khalil Nimini Ben Bezaleel, and Robert Farrell. Abie Robinson, a reporter at the ''California Eagle'', said that during a 1963 press conference

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...

called Simons the best journalist he knew. In 1965 Simons started The Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park. She used multiple means to convince people to preserve the park, even asking people to send leaves to the city council. She gathered information to oppose the plan to make the area into a convention center, and ultimately went to court to prevent drilling for oil in the park, turning parts of the park into a parking lot, a day care center, and other uses over a multi-year period. She was unsuccessful in preventing an expansion of the police academy. Simons died in 1985, and later that year the city of Los Angeles named the community center the "Grace E. Simons Lodge" in recognition of her work to save the park.

Awards and honors

In 1959 she was recognized as the best editor for Negro newspapers in Los Angeles. She received an "Award of Exception Distinction" from Governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

in 1967 for her work in preserving Elysian Park. The Sierra Club in 1971, and the Feinstone Environmental Awards, in 1979, recognized her for the work she did to preserve Elysian Park. In 1993, after her death, the sculptor

Peter Shire Peter Shire (born 1947) is a Los Angeles–based artist. Shire was born in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, where he currently lives and works. His sculpture, furniture and ceramics have been exhibited in the United States, Italy, France, ...

started a memorial sculpture that sits in Elysian Park and honors Simons and her husband Frank Glass.

References

External links

Glass papers in the Online Archive of California
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simons, Grace 1901 births 1985 deaths American community activists American women newspaper editors American newspaper writers