Name/Title
Jet Magazine October 20, 1955Entry/Object ID
2020.4.4Description
Red and white magazine, entitled "Jet," with a black and white image of a woman on the cover. The woman wears a dark swimsuit and hoop earrings and is holding a camera. Various stories are advertised on the cover, including an exposé entitled, "South Carolina's Plot to Starve Negroes," and an article on how to photograph babies.Context
Founded in 1951, "Jet" magazine was created by John H. Johnson (1918-2005), the 1996 winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Johnson also created a sister magazine, "Ebony," six years prior to "Jet." While both magazines focused on African American news stories and personalities, "Jet" was dubbed "The Weekly Negro News Magazine" due to its coverage of the civil rights movement.
Included in this October 20th, 1955 edition of "Jet" magazine was a six-page article that described efforts by White Citizens Councils in Clarendon and Orangeburg counties in South Carolina to create an “economic squeeze” on Black community members. The goal of the squeeze was to “‘starve’ some 3,000 Negroes in the two counties who are NAACP school petition signers, members or sympathetizers [sic]” by refusing to sell them foodstuffs, denying them opportunities to labor for wages, and refusing to approve farm-related bank loans. The article raised national awareness of the backlash African Americans faced following the Brown v. Board of Education decision, which included the Clarendon County case, Briggs v. Elliott. The article included a call to action that suggested readers help by sending money and supplies to "NAACP Secretary Mrs. A.W. Simkins, 2025 Marion Street, Columbia, South Carolina." Simkins' niece, Henrie Monteith Treadwell, later recalled sorting and distributing the numerous donations that arrived at her aunt's home on Marion Street. This call to action originated with Simkins, who hosted the reporters at her Green Book site, Motel Simbeth, during their trip.
Modjeska Monteith Simkins (1899–1992) was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina. A graduate of Benedict College in 1921, Monteith taught at Booker T. Washington High School until 1929, when she married Andrew Whitfield Simkins (1881–1965). As married women were not permitted to teach in Columbia public schools, Simkins instead began working in 1931 as the Director of Negro Work for the South Carolina Tuberculosis Association, becoming South Carolina's only full-time African American public health worker. However, Simkins' position was eliminated in 1942, possibly due to her growing involvement with the SC NAACP, which elected her state secretary the previous year.
Upon election to the SC NAACP leadership in 1941, Simkins became a key strategist, fundraiser, and publicist for the organization’s landmark legal fights. These included equal pay for Black teachers (Duval v. Seigneus), the end of the state’s all-white Democratic Primary (Elmore v. Rice), and the end of “separate but equal” schools (Briggs v. Elliott). Throughout her career, she remained focused on issues she and others deemed basic human rights: quality education, a living wage, universal health care, and freedom from violence. She served as a key advisor to the Southern Negro Youth Congress in the 1940s and later co-founded the Richland County Citizens' Committee, which focused on voter education and direct action protests in the early 1960s.Publication Details
Publication Type
MagazinePeriodical
Jet MagazineDate Published
Oct 20, 1955Dimensions
Dimension Description
ClosedHeight
6 inWidth
4-3/16 inDimension Description
OpenedHeight
6 inWidth
8-3/8 inRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Modjeska Monteith Simkins
