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Oral History Interview with Modjeska Simkins, May 11, 1990. Interview A-0356. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
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  • Abstract
    Civil rights activist and NAACP leader Modjeska Simkins recalls the civil rights struggle in South Carolina in this spirited interview. Simkins was active in social welfare and civil rights organizations in her state, emerging as a leader in the Columbia, South Carolina, branch of the NAACP. Simkins reflects on race and history in the United States and on the nation's violent past, and provides anecdotes of activism and life in the pre-World War II segregated South.
    Excerpts
  • Most whites are decent folk
  • Racism in word and deed in the segregated South
  • Involvement with southern civic groups
  • Eleanor Roosevelt reacts to segregation
  • Awful history of slavery
  • Welcoming whites into the civil rights movement
  • Learn More
  • Finding aid to the Southern Oral History Program Collection
  • Database of all Southern Oral History Program Collection interviews
  • Subjects
  • Civil rights--Southern States
  • Southern States--Race relations
  • African Americans--Civil rights--Southern States
  • The Southern Oral History Program transcripts presented here on Documenting the American South undergo an editorial process to remove transcription errors. Texts may differ from the original transcripts held by the Southern Historical Collection.

    Funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this title.