Shocking the Conscience

Simeon Saunders Booker Jr. was born in Baltimore, Maryland on August 27, 1918. He received a degree in English from Virginia Union University in 1942 and became a reporter for The Baltimore Afro-American. He later worked for The Call and Post in Cleveland, for The Washington Post, as its first black reporter, and for Jet and Ebony magazines. He covered the civil rights movement. He retired from journalism in 2007.

He was a syndicated radio commentator for Westinghouse Broadcasting from 1959 to 1978. He wrote several books including Black Man's America, Susie King Taylor: Civil War Nurse, and Shocking the Conscience: A Reporter's Account of the Civil Rights Movement. He was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame in 2013 and received the George Polk career award for lifetime achievement in 2016. He died on December 10, 2017 at the age of 99.

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