Built between 1890 and 1895, this one-story cottage was home to Modjeska Monteith Simkins, one of South Carolina's greatest human rights advocates, from 1932 until her death on April 5, 1992.
Modjeska Monteith Simkins House
History
From a young age, Modjeska Monteith Simkins practiced social activism. Her career involved working with local and national civil rights leaders and NAACP lawyers such as Thurgood Marshall, who stayed at her home. Simkins' efforts in the realm of education, public health, and human rights led her to receive the Order of the Palmetto-the State of South Carolina's highest honor-before her death in 1992.
Today, her former residence continues to be a meeting space for people committed to improving the lives of the most underrepresented citizens in the community.
An Advocate of the People Exhibit
Spread across four rooms, this multimedia experience documents Simkins’ upbringing and career as a public health worker and state secretary of the South Carolina NAACP through the lens of the long civil rights movement. It invites visitors to connect the values of Simkins and her contemporaries to those of future generations of activists while closely examining the central—and complicated—role that the media has played in the struggle for equality.
Virtual Tour
Click here to take a virtual tour of "Modjeska Monteith Simkins: An Advocate for the People" and learn more about the life of one of South Carolina’s greatest human rights advocates.
Recent Blog Posts
An Advocate of the People: The New Exhibit at the Modjeska Monteith Simkins House
Modjeska Monteith Simkins, born in Columbia, was one of South Carolina’s most significant human rights advocates. During the pivotal civil rights movement, Simkins served as secretary in the South Carolina NAACP, where she helped advance voting rights and desegregate schools in the state. Her career spanned a lifetime of advocacy...