A Democratic Congressman and U.S. Senator, Furnifold M. Simmons was born on January 20, 1854 to Furnifold Green, Jr., and Mary McLendel Jerman Simmons of Jones County, North Carolina.
Simmons, a member of a prosperous farm family, was educated at an academy in Wake Forest and attended Trinity College (now Duke University).
Although Simmons after thirty years in the Senate misunderstood a younger generation of politicians, he lost his Senatorial seat to Bailey primarily because he deserted Alfred Smith in 1928 and because he was in office when America’s economic depression began.
Simmons kept the issue of African American officeholders, whom he portrayed as corrupt and unqualified for office, at the forefront of the campaign.
In recognition of his political skills, and as a reward for his service to the party, Simmons was nominated by the Democrats for a senatorial seat in 1900.
Richard L. Watson, Jr., "FurnifoldSimmons and the Politics of White Supremacy." In Race, Class and Politics in Southern History: Essays in Honor of Robert F. Durden, Jeffrey Crow et al., eds.
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