An outspoken state senator is scheduled to make remarks Sunday at the International Servant Leaders Museum in Morton Grove, coming as Black History Month commences.
According to Morton Grove Pride, a co-sponsor of Sunday’s event, state Senator Mike Simmons, D-Chicago, will speak at the local museum as part of an effort to “celebrate Black History Month and honor the enduring legacy of Black leaders whose lives and work continue to shape our nation.”
Simmons represents the diverse 7th District in Chicago, which includes the North Side neighborhoods of Rogers Park, Edgewater, Uptown and Ravenswood.
First appointed to the state senate in 2021, taking over for former state Sen. Heather Steans, Simmons is an Ethiopian-American who is the first openly gay state senator and the first Black one to represent the 7th District, according to biographical information on his district website.
He was recently reelected to the seat in the 2024 General Election.
The state senator is an outspoken advocate for the LBGTQ community, throwing his legislative support behind bills related to protections for that demographic, among others.
Simmons is formerly deputy director of the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper program.
The event at the Morton Grove museum Sunday is also co-sponsored by Vision Morton Grove, a hyper-local, grassroots community organization that started in 2018 and, according to its website, focuses on social, economic and other local collective concerns.
Simmons’ appearance will be part of what is billed as a celebration of the “legacy of all Black leaders” – especially ones with February birthdays, like poet Langston Hughes, singer Nina Simone, civil rights icon Rosa Parks and abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
Admission is free and Simmons is scheduled to deliver his address at noon.
