Ida Vera Simonton Explained

Ida Vera Simonton
Birth Date:September 13, 1870
Birth Place:Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Death Date:July 5, 1931 (aged 60)
Death Place:New York City

Ida Vera Simonton (September 13, 1870 – July 5, 1931) was an American writer and lecturer. She spent two years in Gabon in 1906 and 1907, and wrote and lectured about her experiences for American audiences.

Early life

Simonton was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,[1] the daughter of Jefferson Wilson Simonton and Lydia Ellen Hoover Simonton.[2]

Career

Simonton toured Gabon in 1906 and 1907,[3] working with American primate researcher Richard Lynch Garner in Gabon;[4] [5] she timed the trip partly to escape a subpoena to testify at the murder trial of Harry Thaw.[6] [7] She wrote critically, and sometimes in lurid detail, about brutality in rubber camps, about sexual exploitation in colonial households, and about western missionaries in Africa, in a 1909 series of newspaper articles for the Africa Mail, and in her novel Hell's Playground (1912).[8] [9] Her novel formed the basis of the controversial play and films titled White Cargo (1929, 1942), without her permission. She sued and won significant damages from the play's producers,[10] [11] then sold the film rights.[12]

She wrote for popular national magazines, including Theodore Dreiser's The Delineator and McCall's. Simonton also lectured on her travels,[13] [14] presenting herself as an expert on Africa and race,[15] [16] while reinforcing many racist stereotypes about Africans. She was planning to lead a trade expedition in West Africa in 1915 for the American Tropical Trading Company, before World War I prevented such travel.[17] [18] She gave a speech about the condition of women in Armenia, in Atlanta in 1920.[19]

During World War I, Simonton was involved in Liberty Loan fund drives and helped to organize the American Woman's League for Self-Defense. She was president of the Women's Military Reserve of the United States. In the 1920s she made further world travels, in South America, the Pacific, and Asia, saying "I am interested in the condition of women all over the world".[20]

Personal life

Simonton died in New York City in 1931, aged 60 years.[21] A collection of her postcards from Africa is held by the Amistad Research Center.[22]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: 1931-07-06. IDA VERA SIMONTON, NOVELIST, IS DEAD; Author of "Hell's Playground" Succumbs to Illness That Began Abroad. TRAVELED ALONE IN AFRICA Her Observations While Among Tribes Led to Writing of Novel-- Lectured on Experiences. en-US. The New York Times. 2021-01-10. 0362-4331.
  2. Book: Leonard, John William. Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915. 1914. American Commonwealth Company. 747. en.
  3. News: 1913-07-13. American Girl's Adventures in London and Darkest Africa. 106. Detroit Free Press. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  4. News: 1906-08-09. To Study Monkey. 4. The South Bend Tribune. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  5. News: 1909-03-29. Coming to Our Zoo to Study Ostriches. 7. Buffalo Courier. 2021-01-22. Newspapers.com.
  6. Rich, Jeremy. "Ida Vera Simonton's Imperial Masquerades: Intersections of Gender, Race and African Expertise in Progressive-Era America." Gender & History 22.2 (2010) : 322-340.
  7. News: 1907-11-13. Will Appear in Thaw Trial. 8. Evening Star. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  8. Book: Simonton, Ida Vera. Hell's playground. 1912. Moffat, Yard. New York.
  9. January 1913. Staking a Claim. The Bookman. 36. 480–483. HathiTrust.
  10. News: 1925-10-04. Nothing but Trouble, Trouble, and -- Success!. 55. The Spokesman-Review. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  11. News: 1925-03-18. Real 'White Cargo' Author Now Clinks Her Share of Coin. 26. Daily News. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  12. News: 1926-12-04. Theatre Notes. 55. Daily News. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  13. News: 1912-11-21. To Lecture on African Jungle. 6. New Castle Herald. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  14. News: 1912-11-26. Miss Simonton Is at Dickinson Home. 12. New Castle Herald. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  15. News: 1909-04-18. A Woman's Adventures in Africa on the Trail Roosevelt Will Follow. 58. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  16. News: 1917-09-09. The World's Treasure House After the War!. 3. San Francisco Chronicle. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  17. News: 1914-11-03. Woman Bosses Schooner and Leads Party of Men to Jungles. 6. New Berne Weekly Journal. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  18. News: Cooley. Winnifred Harper. 1914-10-11. Woman to Head Trading Expedition to Africa. 72. The Sun. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  19. News: 1920-03-03. Powerful Plea Made by Woman for Armenians. 11. The Atlanta Constitution. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  20. News: 1928-02-02. Woman Author and Adventure Seeker a Visitor. 19. Honolulu Star-Bulletin. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  21. News: 1931-07-06. Ida Vera Simonton, Author, Passes Away. 5. The News and Observer. 2021-01-10. Newspapers.com.
  22. Web site: Dorsey. Chianta. 2015-04-16. The Eyes of Ida Vera Simonton and Warren Boudreaux: Viewing Africa through the Prism of Postcards. 2021-01-10. Amistad Research Center. en.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ida Vera Simonton".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.