2026 CALENDAR
During its spring session, the Modjeska Simkins School offers public programs with leading writers, teachers, and historians. Some of the talks are held at GROW, our HQ at 1340 Elmwood Ave. in Columbia, SC. Others are held on Zoom only.
• Check back here for updates, as new Deep Dives are added throughout the semester. This year, classes end June 22.
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Sunday, March 8, 4pm
Deep Dive 1: First Nations. On Zoom and in-person at GROW. Guest presenters: Chris Judge, Assistant Director at University of South Carolina Lancaster; Beckee Garris, Program Assistant at University of South Carolina Lancaster, and Jay Bender, former attorney for the Catawba Indian Nation.You can view the recorded program HERE.
Sunday, March 15, 4pm
Deep Dive 2: The Intersection of Slavery and Capitalism. We are pleased to welcome back Dr. Justene Hill Edwards, associate professor of history at the University of Virginia. Her field of research is the intersection of African –American history, slavery and American capitalism. Her first book, published in 2021, is Unfree Markets. The Slaves’ Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina examines how the capitalist development of slavery influenced the economic lives of enslaved people. Her 2024 book, Savings and Trust; The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman’s Bank, details how the Freedman’s Bank, a bold Reconstruction plan to securely hold deposits for African-American soldiers and newly freed civilians in the Beaufort area, was ultimately betrayed and how it shaped economic inequality in America.
You can view the recorded program HERE.
Sunday March 22, 4pm
Deep Dive 3: Nationally acclaimed historians Dr. Vernon Burton and Fergus Bordewich will unpack South Carolina’s outsized and unique role in ensuring the USA was born as a slave nation. Vernon, a SC native, spent days interviewing Modjeska Simkins in 1972 for his PhD dissertation at Princeton, and has become a leading scholar and author of Lincoln and Reconstruction. Fergus’ 2013 book, Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction, focuses on the arrest of more than 1,000 white terrorists in South Carolina’s Upstate by federal troops in 1871.
To join on Zoom, register HERE.
Sunday March 29, 4pm
From Red Shirts to Proud Boys, from the Klan to ICE, the modus operandi of racist autocracy
Guest: Dr. Jennifer Taylor. Dr. Taylor earned her PhD at USC, and is an Assistant Professor of Public History at Duquesne University. She specializes in debunking myths and telling true stories about our painful past. She addresses the tensions involved between the romanticized history told by the winners and the peoples’ lived history. She offers best practices for interpreting issues such as white supremacy and domestic political terrorism for public audiences. Her recent book Rebirth: Creating the Museum of the Reconstruction Era and the Future of the House Museum, tells how the Woodrow Wilson boyhood home in Columbia was upgraded for the 21st Century as the Museum of the Reconstruction Era. Rebirth is available in hardback and paperback, as well as a free open access e-book through the University of South Carolina Press.
To join on Zoom, register HERE.