Arthur Simmons was born into slavery near New Bern, North Carolina in 1838, and lived there until the Civil War. The details surrounding Simmons’s legal status are unclear; many newspaper articles note that he was born into slavery, but do not state how and when he gained his freedom.¹ Sources differ on the year that Simmons was hired at the White House. Newspaper interviews with Simmons place him there during Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, but city directories, census data, and other contemporary sources indicate that he began there around 1871. Officially, he served as a messenger at the White House, but his job would be better described as a doorkeeper.² He managed the flow of visitors to the White House, taking calling cards and deciding who could be seen by the president or his secretary. As one newspaper put it: “Perhaps there is no colored man in the United States known to more people than Arthur Simmons, the White House doorkeeper. This is certainly true of the Washington public. Senators, Representatives, office-seekers, and everybody who on business bent goes to the White House comes to know Simmons.”³ He even tried to thwart a presidential assassin several times. Before Charles Guiteau shot President James Garfield at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in 1881, he called on the president at the White House several times – but Simmons refused to let him in.⁴ Simmons remained in the role until 1889, when President Benjamin Harrison transferred him to a position as a clerk in the Treasury Department. Four years later, President Grover Cleveland reinstated Simmons to his position at the White House, which he kept until 1905.⁵ That year, he was transferred once more, this time to the Department of the Interior.⁶ Outside of his role at the White House, Simmons was active in the D.C. community. He was one of the founding members of Plymouth Congregational Church and a leader in several local masonic lodges and clubs. Simmons died on August 22, 1907, and was buried at Columbian Harmony Payne Cemetery. Burials there were later disinterred during Metro construction, and moved to National Harmony Memorial Park Cemetery in Maryland.⁷

He may have remained enslaved until the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863; other sources say he self-emancipated. A 1902 interview with Arthur Simmons indicates that he was enslaved in the North Carolina household of Furnifold Green, whose son Furnifold Simmons eventually became a United States senator. “Arthur Simmons,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/225809974/arthur-simmons; “An Interesting Character,” The News Journal (Wilmington, DE), April 23, 1897, pg. 3; “Was Appointed by Lincoln,” Kansas City Journal, February 5, 1905, pg. 14; “Guards White House Door,” Phillipsburg Herald (Kansas), February 2, 1905, pg. 2, Chronicling America, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85029677/1905-02-02/ed-1/seq-2/; “Their Relationship,” The Mitchell Capital (South Dakota), June 20, 1902, pg. 8, Chronicling America, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn2001063112/1902-06-20/ed-1/seq-8/ ; Richard L. Watson, “Simmons, Furnifold McLendel,” NCpedia, https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/simmons-furnifold.
He is listed as a messenger for the first time in 1871, see “Arthur Simmons in the U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” 1871, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011; “Guards White House Door,” Phillipsburg Herald (Kansas), February 2, 1905, pg. 2, Chronicling America, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85029677/1905-02-02/ed-1/seq-2/; “Old Man is Transferred,” The Freeman (Indiana), February 25, 1905, pg. 7, Chronicling America, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016211/1905-02-25/ed-1/seq-7/; Boyd’s Directory of the District of Columbia (Washington DC: 1875), pg. 465.
“An Interesting Character,” The News Journal (Wilmington, DE), April 23, 1897, pg. 3.
“Guiteau’s Story as Told by Himself,” The Morning Post (London), December 3, 1881, pg. 2; “Hard Fate of Simmons, Long President’s Buffer,” Brooklyn Eagle, February 5, 1905, pg. 25.
Ibid; “City and Vicinity,” New Berne Weekly Journal (North Carolina), March 9, 1893, pg. 3; Official Register of the United States Vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1889), 37.
“Old Man is Transferred,” The Freeman (Indiana), February 25, 1905, pg. 7, Chronicling America, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016211/1905-02-25/ed-1/seq-7/; Official Register of the United States Vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1905), 907.
Arthur Simmons in the Washington, District of Columbia, U.S., Columbian Harmony Payne Cemetery, 1901-1959, Courtesy of DC Public Library, Ancestry.com; “Arthur Simmons Buried,” Washington Post, August 26, 1907, pg. 12. Simmons even collected the autographs of several presidents and laid them in the cornerstone of Plymouth Congregational. See “Cornerstone of the Colored Congregational Church,” Evening Star, November 5, 1885, pg. 1, Chronicling America, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1885-11-05/ed-1/seq-1/; “Hard Fate of Simmons, Long President’s Buffer,” Brooklyn Eagle, February 5, 1905, pg. 25.

Birthplace

New Bern, North Carolina, USA

National Harmony Memorial Park (formerly Columbian Harmony Payne Cemetery)

Related Workers: William G. Hall
Ushers, Stewards, and Doorkeepers, 1889 – 1893; John J. Hans
Ushers, Stewards, and Doorkeepers, circa 1902 – 1909

Related Association Content: https://www.whitehousehistory.org/livery-at-the-white-house
Educational Resources: Welcoming and Protecting: The White House Doorkeeper
Called the "people's house", the White House must carefully balance welcoming public visitors with ensuring the safety of the president and their family. In this video, learn about the historic role of the White House doorkeepers, from the 1800s up until today.