Modjeska Monteith Simkins
#TBT: Motel Simbeth + Cornwell Tourist Home
Thursday, February 21st 2019
We’ve talked about the Green Book before in this series, but here’s a refresher: As automobile travel grew increasingly popular from the 1930s through the 1960s, African Americans found themselves faced with what historian Gretchen Sorin called “an uncertain landscape,” much of which was “composed of white spaces where black...
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 the...
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...