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Joseph Jacob Simmons, Jr. (January 17, 1901 – March 24, 1981) was a prominent African-American oilman. He "rose above humble beginnings to become the most successful and most recognizable black entrepreneur in the history of the petroleum industry." As an internationally known oil broker he partnered with Phillips Petroleum Company and Signal Oil and Gas Company to open up African oil fields in Liberia, Nigeria and Ghana. In 1969, he became the first black person to be appointed to the National Petroleum Council.〔 ==Early life== Born in what later became Haskell, Oklahoma, Simmons was the ninth of ten children.〔〔 His great-grandfather had been a slave of the Creek Indian tribe, and later became a chief as well as a leader for many of the freed Creek slaves.〔 Simmons father owned a ranch in the Haskell area. As a child, Simmons repaired fences and worked cattle.〔 At the age of 10, he told his father, "I want to be an oil man." Booker T. Washington, on one of his trips to Oklahoma, spent the night at the Simmons ranch and convinced Simmons to attend the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.〔 From Washington, Simmons learned to love work for its own sake, and learned that success depends on an ability to charm and motivate people.〔 After graduating from Tuskegee in 1919, Simmons married Melba Dorsey and moved to Detroit, Michigan. A year later he divorced her, moved back to Oklahoma, and married Willie Eva Flowers.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jake Simmons, Jr.」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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