Name/Title
Monteith-Simkins Wedding Announcement (Loan)Entry/Object ID
L2020.8.1Description
White paper with black writing. It announces the wedding of Mary Modjeska Monteith to Andrew Whitfield Simkins, Jr. on December 27, 1929 in Columbia, South Carolina.
On Loan from South Carolina Political Collection at the University of South Carolina.Context
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, Jr. (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 was fired in 1942, possibly due to her involvement with the NAACP, for which Simkins served as secretary of the state conference of branches (SC NAACP) from 1941 until 1957. She was the only woman during this period to serve as a state-wide officer, and she also served as a lead advisor to the Southern Negro Youth Congress, which met in Columbia for their annual conference in 1946. Simkins later co-founded the Richland County Citizens' Committee, which focused on voter education and direct action protests.
By the time of their marriage in 1929, Andrew was a widow with five children. As a young man, he taught wheelwrighting at South Carolina State College in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He moved to Columbia to work in insurance before going into business for himself in 1928. He operated a gas station, liquor store, and owned rental properties in several Black neighborhoods. According to Modjeska Simkins, "he liked social life; I never did, but he did. So he went to all the parties. He liked to play whist and poker....He would go to card parties and receptions and things. All those things were boring to me." (Oral History, Julye 28, 1976)
Andrew did put his carpentry background to use, laying a new floor in their home at 2025 Marion Street and serving as builder-contractor for several properties, including the Simkins Building in Columbia's Black Business District. Although "he wasn't that much interested" in activism, he supported Simkins in her work until his death in 1967.Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Modjeska Monteith Simkins