02.09.21
C.O. Simpkins: The influence of a father on a son
As appeared on KTBS3ABC News
Excerpt
SHREVEPORT, La. – February is Black History Month and there’s a rich legacy here in the ArkLaTex.
You know the name C.O. Simpkins, the late civil rights activist and dentist. But you may not know much about his son.
Because of his father’s inspiration, Cuthbert Simpkins developed a love for science. He became a trauma surgeon and in 2004 became the director of the trauma program at LSU Sciences Center in Shreveport.
Cuthbert Simpkins recently talked about what it was like growing up in the 1960’s and how his father’s fight to change lives would become his passion to save them.
“I remember him taking me to a pond and getting some old grass and some pond water. He brought me a microscope. And he told me to look at it after three days. I saw paramecia darting around and I was just so excited,” says Cuthbert Simpkins.
He was about 8 years old then. He went by the name of Tuffy. His father even made plans for him to do more experiments in the house they were building on Jefferson Paige Road.
