Katharine Allen
LGBTQ Columbia History Initiative: Six collection items to help tell the story
Tuesday, September 28th 2021
LGBTQ+ people have always been, and will always be, part of Columbia’s story. Historic Columbia’s latest initiative – a collection of oral histories, digital archives, virtual tours, and more on LGBTQ history in the capital city – is set to launch soon. As a first step, we collaborated with South...
Searching for Motel Simbeth
Friday, February 22nd 2019
On 20 October 1955, Jet, a national weekly digest with a primarily black audience, published the expose “ SOUTH CAROLINA’S PLOT TO STARVE NEGROES.” The six-page piece described efforts by White Citizens Councils in Clarendon and Orangeburg counties to create an “economic squeeze” on black community members. The goal of...
Modjeska Monteith Simkins: An Advocate for the People
Thursday, February 21st 2019
Modjeska Monteith Simkins was born in Columbia, S.C. on December 5, 1899, into a society that legally dispossessed women and people of color of their civil liberties. Over the course of her 92 years, she displayed a courage and perseverance that many argue was unmatched. Today, Simkins is rightfully lauded...
Park It: Columbia’s Green Spaces Reconstructed
Friday, October 26th 2018
If Forest Acres is a City Apart, then Columbia is a City of Parks. There’s Finlay Park in the heart of downtown, the Riverwalk along the Congaree, the tail-wagging Bark Park in NoMa, Riverbanks Zoo and the Botanical Garden, Carolina’s Horseshoe, and Main Street’s cute-as-a-button pocket park. Oh – and...