Happy Black History Month! I want to start this article informally, and by saying I am beyond grateful to live in 2026 as an African American woman. The more I learn about the history of slavery and the fight for civil rights, the more I realize it is truly a blessing to be here today, and I do not ever want to take that for granted.
To my ancestors who sacrificed, cried, and bled for me, thank you. I attend the beautiful University of South Carolina, and in addition to our ancestors, Modjeska Simkins is one of the civil rights figures we should all express thanks to for building the city of Columbia that we know and love.
I first heard of Simkins last semester in my African American Feminist Theory class (shoutout to the wonderful Dr. Benton). I am so glad to now know who Simkins was because it is important that we are familiar with the Black history right around us. If you are in the Columbia area, I encourage you to visit her home that has now been turned into a museum!
Modjeska Monteith Simkins was born December 5, 1899 in Columbia, South Carolina. Simkins’ early career had a strong focus in public health, and in 1931, she became the Director of Negro Work for the South Carolina Tuberculosis Association. She also became the state’s only fulltime African American public health worker.
Her interest and advocacy into tuberculosis care came about because Black southerners were experiencing tuberculosis deaths at extremely high rates due to racism and poverty. To combat this, and what would soon become a pattern, Simkins requested the support of wealthier and more persuasive white and African American advocacy groups in order to raise funds to back her own efforts. This aid had a life changing impact on South Carolina’s African American tuberculosis-ridden community, as well as the general health of African Americans in the state.
Throughout her time working as Director, Simkins continued to raise money that went towards setting up and managing health clinics all over Columbia—in classrooms, churches, mills, and even tobacco fields. She was not just focused on tuberculosis, but also worked to educate women on sexually transmitted diseases and preventative measures against them. Additionally, she was largely concerned with the issues of better pay for teachers, African Americans obtaining good jobs within the Works Progress Administration, and advocating against capital punishment.
In 1942, Modjeska Simkins lost her position with the South Carolina Tuberculosis Association, however she was already heavily involved with Columbia’s NAACP chapter, and she became even more involved with South Carolina’s recently founded state chapter of the NAACP. Thurgood Marshall, former Civil Rights lawyer and U.S. Supreme Court Justice, often stayed at Simkins’ house when he would travel to Columbia to argue legal cases. In fact, Simkins would often act as an advisor to Marshall inside courtrooms because of her expert knowledge of Columbia.
“If you want freedom, work for it!!”
Modjeska Monteith Simkins, 1956
During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Simkins was not just concerned with mobilizing big names and already established organizations; she was determined to mobilize as many everyday people as possible. She owned a mimeograph machine which she would use to print literature encouraging boycotts towards businesses supporting segregation. Members of South Carolina’s NAACP would take advantage of large gatherings, such as South Carolina State University football games, and place these informative papers on the windshields of parked cars. In one printed in 1956, Simkins wrote, “IF YOU WANT FREEDOM, WORK FOR IT!!”
Sometime later, Simkins began to feel as if the NAACP was becoming too stagnant. She believed the organization was afraid to do what it would take to advance civil rights amidst the Red Scare. After parting ways, Simkins did not sit down.
In her 60’s, still full of steam, Modjeska Simkins embarked on a campaign for Columbia City Council and S.C. House of Representatives. Although these campaigns were unsuccessful, her community work ensued. She was adamant about citywide cleanups, ensuring grocery stores provided safe food in low-income areas, clearing out Columbia’s most dangerous crime pockets, and a “youth court” specifically for juvenile delinquency.
Not being elected to a public office did not stop Simkins from making her voice heard. In 1964, her radio show titled “I Woke Up This Morning with My Mind Set on Freedom” aired Wednesday evenings in Columbia, and stayed on the air consistently for nearly eight years. She used her airtime to discuss issues impacting the Black community around her, as well as civil rights issues across the country and the world. She was fierce and straightforward on the mic, criticizing anybody from politicians to local deadbeat parents. She firmly informed her listeners that she was against the Vietnam War and that politicians should be doing something to address police brutality.
Simkins was politically active well into her 80’s. She was present at anti-nuclear rallies, testified at hearings opposing the death penalty, and fought intentional pollution of poor neighborhoods. At age 87, she and other activists drove to Washington D.C. to protest legislation aimed at repealing women’s voting rights.
Modjeska Simkins died at the age of 92, but not before receiving the Order of the Palmetto, which is the highest honor a civilian can receive from the governor of South Carolina for outstanding service and lifetime achievement.
We are in a day and age when civil rights are yet again under attack. Modjeska Simkins was able to influence the Equal Rights Amendment as well as the U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education without holding a position in a high elected office. She did so with grit and by sticking to her principles. She did not wait for anybody to speak or move for her. She used her own voice to mobilize people to support the causes she felt were lacking motion. She was not scared of perception by opposition, or being seen as too emotional, too firm, too southern, too Black, or not Black enough. She was willing to stand alone for what she believed in, and that is what I believe is missing today.
Columbia, South Carolina regards Modjeska Monteith Simkins as “a South Carolina revolutionary.” I ask you, how often do you wait for your peers to move before you do? Do you even move at all? In a time when reproductive freedom is being stripped away, transgender lives are under attack, and our neighbors are being snatched off the streets and separated from their families simply because of their race, what does being “a South Carolina revolutionary” mean to you?