Jevoid Simmons is the last of four boys born in Greenville, Alabama.
He, his parents and older brothers were forced leave the South under
threat of racial violence in the early 1950s. They became participants
in the mass migration of Black Americans out of the South.
Simmons is a retiree from The Art Institute of Chicago where he was the
Director of Employee Relations and Training. His responsibilities
focused on employment policy, conflict resolution, managerial
effectiveness and diversity equity and inclusion.
Simmons is an artist (painter and woodcarver), working primarily
in folk/primitive style. Through his art and written narrative
he documents his family’s journey in this first book,
Up From Down Home; The Journey North.
He resides in Evanston, Illinois with his family and two Siberian huskies.