Simeon Saunders Booker Jr. (August 27, 1918 – December 10, 2017) was an African-American journalist whose work appeared in leading news publications for more than 50 years. He was known for his journalistic works during the civil rights movement and for his coverage of the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till. He worked for The Washington Post, Jet, and Ebony. Biography Early years Born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Simeon Saunders Booker and Roberta Waring Booker, Booker moved with his family to Youngstown, Ohio, when he was five years old. There, his father opened a YMCA for African-Americans. While attending Covington Street Elementary School in Youngstown, he wrote a poem that was published in the local newspaper, the Youngstown Vindicator. While a high school student at The Rayen School (affectionately known as Rayen) in Youngstown, some of Booker's stories were published in the Baltimore Afro American, a prominent African American newspaper. Education Booker graduated from high school in Youngstown and then enrolled at Youngstown College, but transferred to Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia, when he learned that Black students were denied activity cards at the YMCA-sponsored school. He earned money during college by providing publicity for Virginia Union's sports teams. He graduated from Virginia Union with a degree in English in 1942. Early career Booker returned to Youngstown during summer vacations and published articles about the Negro league baseball games there. Upon graduating with a degree in English, he took his first job with the Afro-American. Booker later returned to Ohio and worked for the Cleveland Call and Post, where a series he wrote concerning slum housing earned him a Newspaper Guild Award. Booker was offered a prestigious Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University in 1950–51. Journalistic career In 1952, Booker became the first black reporter for The Washington Post. Booker was best known for his reporting during the civil rights movement while working for Jet and Ebony magazines. His coverage of the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi and the subsequent trial is one of the most noted pieces of journalism from the era. During the 1960 presidential election cycle, in an attempt to garner the support of Black voters, the campaign of John F. Kennedy attempted to buy Booker's column in Jet magazine, meaning the campaign would write the column and the magazine would publish it under Booker's byline; Booker and the publisher refused. Booker retired in