Billy Simmons

Billy Simmons
Bornc. 1780
Madagascar
Diedc. 1860 (aged c. 80)
United States
Occupation(s)Scholar, newspaper deliverer

Billy Simmons (also known as Billy Simons; c. 1780 - c. 1860) was an African-American Jew from Charleston, South Carolina, one of the few documented Black Jews living in the Antebellum South. Simmons was a scholar in both Hebrew and Arabic.[1]

Life

Simmons was born in Madagascar. Simmons claimed to be a descendant of a Rechabite tribe, a claim that two cantors and other Jewish authorities supported. Purchased by white Jewish enslavers, Simmons was taken into captivity and brought to South Carolina. A newspaper editor in Charleston enslaved him and forced him to deliver newspapers.[2]

Despite anti-Black restrictions in the constitution of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim that banned Black converts from membership, Simmons was among the few African-American Jews known to have attended the synagogue during the antebellum period.[3][4] Simmons attended the synagogue during the 1850s and was known to members as Uncle Billy. Simmons was known to attend Shabbat services wearing a black top hat, black suit, and frilly shirt.[5]

Legacy

A drawing of Billy Simmons is held by the Special Collections Library of the College of Charleston.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Jews of Nineteenth Century Charleston: Ethnicity in a Port City". University of Göttingen. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  2. ^ "Black Jews You Should Know, Part 1". Tablet Magazine. 4 February 2016. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  3. ^ O'Brien, Michael (2004). Conjectures of order: intellectual life and the American South, 1810-1860. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-6373-4. OCLC 57759012.
  4. ^ Haynes, Bruce D., 1960- (August 14, 2018). The soul of Judaism : Jews of African descent in America. New York. ISBN 978-1-4798-1123-6. OCLC 1006531808.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ "Jews in Antebellum South Carolina" (PDF). Association of Jewish Libraries. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  6. ^ "Carologue Index" (PDF). Carologue. Retrieved 2024-01-30.