A pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and school principal who — with others in the Progressive Group — hid his identity in the drive for equal rights and an end to racial segregation in Bermuda, has been remembered as “a tireless community servant” by David Burt.

The Premier called the Reverend Erskine Simmons, who died this week, a true product of the AME Church whose “life was dedicated to service”.

“As a youth leader, church founder, educator and civic leader, every aspect of his life was committed to public service."

He added: "Dr Simmons touched so many lives and his legacy is one of immense impact on every aspect of his community service.“

Mr Burt offered the Government’s condolences to his family on “the loss of this giant of a man”.

Dr Simmons, of Bright Temple AME Church in Warwick, was prominent in the field of education on the island.

He earned his doctoral degree in education from Harvard University and went on to serve as an education officer at the Ministry of Education.

Dr Simmons was a former teacher at The Berkeley Institute and former principal at the Prospect Secondary School for Girls and St George’s Secondary School.

In the US, Dr Simmons was appointed chaplain of Wilberforce University and adjunct professor at Central State University – two historically Black colleges and universities in Ohio.

He was married to Michelle Simmons, a former independent senator and the first woman to be the full-time principal of The Berkeley Institute, who died last year.

His activism was interlinked with his involvement in the island’s trade union movement but also reflected the legacy of the AME Church.

Dr Simmons was widely known for his role in what began as a secret activist organisation, the Progressive Group, members of which quietly joined forces to instigate the peaceful 1959 Theatre Boycott that toppled racial segregation in Bermuda.

Protesters picketed the island’s segregated cinemas, where Black patrons had been made to sit downstairs.

The Progressive Group, whose members risked reprisals from the island’s banks, initiated their boycott with little idea of how it would unfold.

It burgeoned into a movement that succeeded within weeks at shaming theatres into dropping the practice, with restaurants and hotels following suit.

It led to the Civil Service opening to all and prompted the Government to pass its first anti-discrimination laws.

For the 60th anniversary of the boycotts, Dr Simmons recalled the campaign starting with “a simple group of people on a nice summer evening”.

He told The Royal Gazette: “There was no need to make any show of strength. There was a collaborative atmosphere — it was not a charged atmosphere.”

Dr Simmons added: “You have to appeal to their senses. If we have people demonstrating over climate change, then there is a scientific approach you have to take.

“Some people will look at the science and say that they still don’t see it, but you have to suit it to the time in which you live.”

He added that the Progressive Group “emphasised the protest should be peaceful” and that “some took it upon themselves to make sure it did not get out of hand”.

Dr Simmons said in 2019: “Would it work today? Yes, if you start on the premise that you are going to have a nonviolent situation.”

In 2021, the City of Hamilton commemorated the landmark action by naming the block covering Hamilton City Hall and its grounds, as well as the adjacent car park, as Freedom Square.

Dr Simmons attended with many others from the Progressive Group. He told the crowd: “I am here today to speak for a group of people who came together with the idea of changing life in Bermuda, changing life for the Black people who were denied privilege, denied mortgages, denied access to the hospital, and to the full and free system of living in Bermuda.”

The Progressive Group had no intention of going public and had to be persuaded in 1999 by activist Glenn Fubler.

“I had to go to each one of them, because they operated by consensus,” Mr Fubler said.

“The only reason I convinced them was on the basis that it would help upcoming generations.”

He recalled that Dr Simmons was one of the few Progressive Group members to attend the rally inspired by their example near City Hall, where he spoke to a detective — one of the island’s few Black police officers — with the aim of gauging how much was known of the organisers.

Mr Fubler added: “In effect, he was investigating the policeman.”

Mr Fubler, who was taught biology by Dr Simmons at The Berkeley Institute, said his former teacher had told him of his service at the executive level at three of the island’s major unions: the Bermuda Industrial Union, the Bermuda Union of Teachers and the Bermuda Public Services Union.

“His role as a unionist speaks to his sense of activism,” Mr Fubler said — adding that the late BIU leader and government minister Ottiwell Simmons had been a cousin.

As a resident of St George’s, Dr Simmons had a deep love of the history within the Olde Towne.

The 65th anniversary of the Theatre Boycott was marked in the summer this year at the opening of Harbour Nights in Hamilton.

Dr Simmons attended, which Mr Fubler said was “the last time I saw him”.

“He was very, very principled, like the other members of the Progressive Group. They did not reflect any ego in and around their role. They just did their thing.”

• Erskine Calvin Simmons, a pastor and founding member of Bright Temple African Methodist Episcopal Church as well as an activist against racial segregation with the Progressive Group, was born on May 1, 1933. He died in September 2024, aged 91