Name/Title
Motel Simbeth Key FobEntry/Object ID
2012.4.1Description
Red key fob with silver jump ring. In white lettering on the front, it reads: "Motel Simbeth, Route 3 Box 988, Columbia, S.C., 15, Drop in any mail box, we guarantee postage.” It is plain on the back.Use
The fob ensured that lost keys would be returned to the motel through the United States Post Office.Context
In operation from around 1955 to 1965, Motel Simbeth offered lodging to Black travelers during an era of segregation and racial intimidation. Located about eight miles northeast of downtown Columbia on US Highway 1 (Two Notch Road), the motel was co-owned and operated by Frank Bethel and Modjeska Monteith Simkins (1899–1992). The establishment was listed in the "Negro Motorists Green Book" from 1956 to 1957 and again from 1959 to 1961, and it welcomed travelers and civil rights leaders from across the country, including Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968), who stayed there in the 1950s. Motel Simbeth was demolished sometime after 1965.
Modjeska Monteith Simkins (1899–1992) was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina. She graduated from Benedict College in 1921 and taught at Booker T. Washington High School until her marriage to Andrew Whitfield Simkins (1881–1965) in 1929 made her ineligible to teach. She returned to work 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, she was dismissed from her position in 1942, partly due to her involvement in the NAACP. Simkins served as secretary of the state conference from 1941 to 1957 and was the only woman to hold an officer position in the organization at the time.Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Modjeska Monteith SimkinsRelated Places
Place
Location
Motel SimbethCity
Columbia, South Carolina
