Modjeska Monteith Simkins House

Columbia, South Carolina

Matriarch of South Carolina’s civil rights movement.

Modjeska Monteith Simkins was an important leader of African-American public health reform and the civil rights movement in South Carolina.  In 1931, Simkins entered the field of public health as the Director of Negro Work for the South Carolina Anti-Tuberculosis Association, and became the state's only full-time, statewide African-American public health worker.

For decades prior to the 1930s, southern racism and poverty had created an alarming increase in deaths among African Americans due to tuberculosis, pellagra, and other illnesses. By creating alliances with influential white and African-American groups, Simkins made a substantial impact on the health of African Americans in South Carolina.  The house was her residence, office, meeting place and served as lodging for civil rights leaders such as Thurgood Marshall, who stayed here when hotels in the city were closed to African Americans.

Also in Columbia is the Mann-Simons Cottage that features the remarkable story of the same African-American family that owned and operated numerous commercial and domestic spaces from at least 1843 until 1970.  Besides the main house, the site includes an outdoor exhibit with five “ghost structures” – the first of its kind in South Carolina.