Help Tell Modjeska Simkins' Story

Each year, Historic Columbia’s Annual Fund program supports a meaningful project that will have lasting impact on our community. This year’s annual fund is focused on the Modjeska Monteith Simkins House.

Built between 1890 and 1895, this one-story cottage was home to Modjeska Monteith Simkins (pictured above)—considered "one of South Carolina’s greatest human rights advocates," from 1932 until her death on April 5, 1992. Modjeska’s home served as the center for civil rights and social justice activities in South Carolina.

During 2018-19, this site – integral to telling our Civil Rights story – will undergo a comprehensive, museum-grade rehabilitation and other capital improvements. For the site to realize its full potential, Historic Columbia will also work to redefine its interpretation and educational programming for the public.

The new interpretation and educational activities will focus on Simkins’ life and work from 1929 to 1956 under four major themes:  citizenship and activism; health disparities and remedies; economic discrimination and self-sufficiency; and political inequalities and action.  The themes will be addressed using interactive exhibits, dynamic classroom and maker-space activities, and public programming focused on understanding historic and addressing contemporary civil rights issues.  

With your support, we will use her life as a lens through which we view historical inequality, the role of organizing and the power of protest, so that the home of Modjeska Monteith Simkins will once again become a center of engagement and action for the community. Please consider making your year-end gift to Historic Columbia.

Online donations can be made by visiting our Annual Fund page. To learn more, please contact Megan Plott, director of development, at 803.252.7742 x 12 or mplott@historiccolumbia.org.