Last updated: February 5, 2025
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Robert Simmons
When Robert Simmons, an African American man from Savannah, Georgia, was brought to the foggy, windswept island of Alcatraz in the winter of 1918, he was thrown into the “hole,” a pitch-dark dungeon cell with slimy walls, crawling with rats. He was held there for 14 days.
His crime?
Simmons was a Conscientious Objector (CO) who opposed war and refused to participate in the war effort during World War I.
When World War I began in Europe on July 28, 1914, a great debate unfolded in the United States as to whether the U.S. should enter the war. President Woodrow Wilson finally decided to declare war on April 6, 1917 – but the country was still divided. Many political, labor and religious organizations opposed the war and urged their members not to fight. In response, the government passed laws that forced conscription, criminalized dissent and jailed many who took anti-war positions.
There was great unrest in the African American community at the time of Wilson’s declaration of war. Jim Crow laws condemned Black Americans to the poorest conditions in cities and rural areas alike. The U.S. Supreme court ruled that segregation was the law of the land. The rise of white vigilante groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, terrorized Black communities, burning churches and homes and lynching thousands.
While some Black leaders encouraged men to join the military to prove their patriotism, others urged them not to fight abroad when there was no democracy or justice for Blacks at home. As one African American newspaper, The Messenger, wrote: “The Negro may be choosing being burnt by Tennessee, Georgia or Texas mobs or being shot by Germans in Belgium.”
Although 290,000 Blacks were conscripted, military units were completely segregated. Some trains carrying Black troops were fired on when they passed through southern towns.When they arrived in Europe, most Black units were assigned to menial labor and support, not combat.
Perhaps all of this was on Robert Simmons’ mind when he was conscripted and sent to France. He was a private in the 323rd Labor Battalion when something changed for him. While there is no record of exactly what led him to do this, on September 13th, 1918, Simmons refused orders to go chop wood. A few days later, he said he would not work in the U.S. military uniform and tore up a ten-dollar bill. He wrote a letter saying that he would only work under armed guard. He also declared himself as a religious objector to the war and was then court-martialed.
“Robert Simmons wont bow down and worship any image of Gold or Silver upon Shoulders of men. Neither will I worship any images of Silk. Robert Simmons knows but one God besides him there is no other. Hoping the Capt. will bring about a General court Martial early as possible.”
As a Conscientious Objector, he was subjected to a court martial (a military trial), where he pled guilty, was dishonorably discharged, and sentenced to ten years of hard labor in prison.
At Alcatraz, then a military prison, Simmons was one of 30 COs – both political and religious. Simmons was one of the “absolutists,” CO’s who refused to obey any military order – whether putting on a uniform or joining a work gang. Every time they refused to comply, their sentences were extended. Further refusals led to placement in solitary confinement in the dungeons below the cellhouse for up to 14 days. When they were released from the dungeon, they were placed in “iron cages,” cells where they were forced to stand, chained to the cell door, unable to sit or even turn around, for eight hours a day.
The protests of concientious objectors brought outside investigators to Alcatraz from church groups and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who documented the brutal conditions and complained to the federal government. Reverend Robert Whitaker, visiting on behalf of the ACLU, spoke with Simmons and described him as “a very quiet, inoffensive, and exceptionally intelligent type. He is a religious objector, but he is not sectarian in his attitude.” Yet, Alcatraz records list Simmons as “religious objector, conduct bad.” The dungeons were not abandoned until the ACLU forced a high-level military inspection of the prison.
