• • •

The Modjeska Simkins School will hold a Deep Dive Sunday at 4pm with nationally renowned civil rights attorney Armand Derfner, who will talk about the US Supreme Court’s sytemic betrayal of civil rights and how that history informs this moment. 

Join online or in-person at GROW, 1340 Elmwood Ave. in Columbia. To participate on Zoom, register HERE.

Derfner helped shape the Voting Rights Act in numerous Supreme Court arguments, and worked on desegregating state university systems and state legislatures across the South. He co-authored the new book Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court with distinguished historian Dr. Vernon Burton. 

Derfner’s personal story is extraordinary. His Jewish parents fled Poland to Paris, where Armand was born in 1938. He was just two years old when the Nazis marched into Paris, forcing the family to flee again. They managed to get to New York, where Derfner spent most of his youth. He graduated from Princeton and Yale, and went to work for a big law firm. 

In the summer of 1965, Derfner took time off to volunteer in Mississippi during a time of extreme racial violence — and ended up staying in the South. He moved to Charleston in 1969, and has now been practicing civil rights law for nearly 60 years.

For more about Derfner and his legal work, check out these links:

The Post and Courier May 30, 2024: Good Faith? Not in the SC Legislature and not on the US Supreme Court

Champions of SC Civil and Human Rights, oral history, July 2, 2007: Voting Rights Before the United States Supreme Court

• • •

Our Deep Dive series is part of the Modjeska Simkins School’s spring program. The School was launched in 2015 as a project of the SC Progressive Network. To support the school, you can donate HERE. Contributions help provide stipends for guest speakers and scholarships for students across the state.

Did you know that 153 years before our current president was indicted for inciting an insurrection, another US president used the Insurrection Clause to track and arrest hundreds of white terrorists in South Carolina? It was news to us, too.

Historian Fergus Bordewich will talk about that and other material in his latest book, Klan War, at a program on Sunday, March 30, at 4pm on Zoom and in-person at  GROW, 1340 Elmwood Ave. in Columbia.

The program is part of the spring session of the Modjeska Simkins School, a project the SC Progressive Network launched in 2015. The school’s Deep Dive series is free and open to the public. Online participants must register HERE.

Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction is touted by Knopf as “a stunning history of the first national anti-terrorist campaign waged on American soil.”

Jennifer Szalai of The New York Times called the book a “cautionary tale,” warning that, “a premature push for conciliation and compromise can leave the roots of some very old pathologies untouched, ready to grow again when the conditions are right.”

After the Civil War ended, the 14th Amendment was passed to grant and defend equal rights to formerly enslaved people. As soon as the war ended, the Ku Klux Klan organized to terrorize them — depriving them of the rights afforded to all citizens through the 14th Amendment.

Nowhere in the country was the mayhem and murder more widespread than in South Carolina, the “cradle of secession.” In 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant declared martial law in nine South Carolina counties, and hundreds of KKK members were arrested.  The trials were held in Columbia and Charleston.

“My book is one of history, not present-day politics,” Borderwich said, “but a few conclusions are inescapable. The United States is not so exceptional that it is somehow absolved from the potential for organized terrorist violence of the type we have seen in other countries. 

“The story of Reconstruction and the Klan war further demonstrates that rights that we take for granted — as freedmen did in the 1870s — can be taken away again. There are forces in today’s America that have the potential to undermine our most basic democratic processes and institutions, as we saw on January 6, 2021. We must remain vigilant if we are not to let our democracy slip through our fingers.”

Bordewich will appear in-person at GROW. His books will be available for purchase.

On Sunday, March 23, the Modjeska Simkins School will host a program to explore the intersection of Black history, slavery, and American capitalism with national expert University of Virginia professor Dr. Justene Hill Edwards.

The program is free and open to the public. Participants may join on Zoom or in-person at GROW in Columbia.

Dr. Hill Edwards’ latest book, Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman’s Bank, examines the relationship between democracy and capitalism during the Reconstruction era. The Freedman’s Bank served tens of thousands of recently emancipated African Americans, many of them making deposits in the Freedman’s banks in Charleston and Beaufort.

Why and how did it fail, and what are the lessons it can teach us today?

Recent research on racial and economic inequality in the United States has led to policy discussions that have placed blame on issues such as access to affordable credit and redlining. Hill Edwards argues that we cannot fully understand why economic inequality persists by looking to modern American history for answers. 

Hill Edwards’ books — Unfree Markets: The Slaves’ Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina (2021) and Savings and Trust (2024) consider the role of the federal government and America’s banking industry in furthering economic inequality at the end of slavery in 1865. The books show that the vestiges of race-based economic inequality are not in the late-nineteenth or twentieth centuries, but in the period of legal slavery.

Sunday’s program is part of the Modjeska School’s Deeper Dive series, which is a supplement for the students, who are currently studying the antebellum era, Civil War, and Reconstruction.

“We are pleased to be able to bring Dr. Hill Edwards back to the school this session,” said Network Executive Director Brett Bursey. “Her research helps reveal how our state’s minimally adequate education — and the escalating legislative assault on teaching truth — continue to serve the interest of the monied gentry.”

The program will be held 4-6pm on Zoom and in-person at the SC Progressive’s HQ at 1340 Elmwood Ave. in Columbia. To join online, register HERE.

Cecil Rigby, 2023 Modjeska Simkins School graduate

Just as Modjeska Simkins School students learn about South Carolina’s indigenous peoples’ struggles for just treatment, we see them take yet another hit courtesy of the Trump Administration.

In 2022, the Biden Administration started the “Local Food Purchase Assistance” program, a cooperative agreement between the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture (SCDA) that resulted in the Catawba Nation receiving $6.1 million in LFPA funds. SCDA was responsible for administering $4.7 million of that total.  

Using these federal funds, SCDA contracted with aggregators to buy food from local, socially disadvantaged producers to distribute free to underserved populations in the state.

Under new orders, that program is now terminated.

USDA states “The intent of the program is to target Socially Disadvantaged. For the purpose of this program, “socially disadvantaged” is a farmer or rancher who is a member of a Socially Disadvantaged Group. A Socially Disadvantaged Group is a group whose members have been subject to discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and, where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program. While purchasing from socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers is not a requirement, it is a target. Proposals should include the steps the applicant will take to target this population.”

USDA notified states on Friday that it was unfreezing funds for existing LFPA agreements but did not plan to carry out a second round of funding for fiscal year 2025.

Until now, LFPA food was distributed in 24 South Carolina underserved counties — more than half. Those counties were identified based on their unemployment, poverty rates, rural classification, remote classification, and current distribution of food. They include: Abbeville, Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Cherokee, Clarendon, Colleton, Dillon, Edgefield, Georgetown, Greenwood, Hampton, Horry, Jasper, Lee, Marion, Marlboro, McCormick, Oconee, Orangeburg, Pickens, Union, and Williamsburg counties. 

All 24 counties have expansive food deserts. Unfortunately, things are about to be worse for people in these areas.

The Catawba Nation’s efforts to provide healthy food to its citizens include Black Snake Farm, a 22-acre farm made possible through the LFPA’s “Plus” program during the pandemic. The grant from USDA was to provide enough funding to purchase food for the market until December 2026. 

The farm works to grow healthy and fresh food that can go into tribal households throughout the year. They “hope that in the future this farm can feed Catawba families and serve as a source for easily accessible food.”

Statewide, SCDA agreements under this and similar programs were expected “to impact over 800,000 students at 124 School Food Authorities. Of this total, SCDA estimated that at least 213 thousand students in underserved areas” would receive increased access to local foods.

Why would anyone expect any attempts to receive reparations for past injustices have any chance to succeed when such a wealthy nation as ours withdraws basic assistance like this from its most deserving citizens?  

Attempts and hopes to build community economics that are decoupled from exploitative systems of production and trade are being smothered in the crib yet again.

The Modjeska Simkins School for Human Rights has opened enrollment for its spring session, marking the school’s 10th year of teaching civics, organizing strategies, and a people’s history of South Carolina to students of all ages and backgrounds. In this age of book bans and challenges to historical narratives, its role is more critical than ever.

The 2025 session runs March 3 – June 23, with classes meeting Monday evenings online and in-person at GROW in Columbia.

This year, the school is partnering with Penn Center in St. Helena, which will be operating a satellite classroom from its campus for students in the area to attend the session live.

“It is an honor to partner with such an historic institution,” said Brett Bursey, executive director of the SC Progressive Network, the nonprofit that launched the school in 2015. “We hope this will become a model for collaborating with allied groups across South Carolina.”

This is a full-circle moment for the Network, which held its first organizing meeting at Penn Center in 1996 and has returned there over the years for its statewide conferences. The campus has a unique and storied history, beginning in 1862 as a school for freed people and later serving as an organizing hub during the modern civil rights movement, where luminaries such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. met to map strategy.

“The Penn Center’s partnership with the Modjeska Simkins School continues Penn’s enduring legacy of providing educational and self-empowerment opportunities for the Carolina Lowcountry,” said Dr. Robert L. Adams, the Center’s executive director. “Informed citizens, who are the cornerstone of American democracy, are nurtured by the rich intellectual experience and critical thinking skills offered by the Modjeska Simkins School. We are proud to extend the reach of such an important program.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Penn Center with SCLC staff in 1966 

Bursey said, “We welcome anyone interested in understanding and better navigating our state’s social and political landscape. Whether you are a lover of history, an activist seeking ways to be more effective in your work, a retired person wanting to get involved in your community, or a transplant who wants to know the peculiar history of South Carolina, this course will benefit you.”

Dr. Robert Greene II, a professor of history at Claflin University who has served as the Modjeska School’s lead instructor since 2019, said, “The school remains a bulwark for truth against disinformation. At the Modjeska School, we believe in not only learning history for the sake of knowing our past, but learning how to think critically and how to think democratically. Contrary to popular belief, there is a tradition of human rights—exemplified by Modjeska Simkins herself—in South Carolina.”

Dr. Robert Greene II speaks at a Jan. 25 celebration of the school’s 10th anniversary

The curriculum, reflecting the Network’s state-based strategy, focuses on South Carolina, which continues to play an over-sized role in our nation’s politics. The course material is ever-evolving to include the latest research and historical analyses. There is nothing like it, not just in South Carolina but nationally.

As a service to the larger community, the school also offers Deep Dive programs on Sunday afternoons during the session that are free and open to the public.

The course includes 16 evening classes, Sunday afternoon Deep Dives, and in-depth study guides. Tuition is based on a sliding scale, and limited full scholarships are available.

Classes meet Monday evenings on Zoom and in-person at GROW, 1340 Elmwood Ave. in Columbia.

For details about the school, the 2025 class schedule, or to apply, click HERE.

Here are comments from some of last year’s students.

• Josh Dunn

• Nilanka Seneviratne 

• Tayler Simon 

On Saturday, friends, allies, and alumni gathered to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Modjeska Simkins School, launched in 2015 to teach civics, organizing skills, and a people’s history of South Carolina. The school has not only survived but thrived, a tremendous feat for an under-funded nonprofit doing the Lord’s work in the belly of the beast. Considering the odds, it is something of a miracle.

So it should come as no surprise that the spirit of Modjeska Moneith Simkins was in the house on Saturday to celebrate the school that bears her name. She was no doubt watching to see if we have learned anything from her — about staying fearless and steadfast in the face of oppression, about claiming a seat at the table you’re not invited to, about understanding the strength of mass action and a united front, but also the power of a single person.

“Modjeska would have loved tonight,” said Brett Bursey, Simkins’ mentee and executive director of the SC Progressive Network, which created the school to teach students of all ages and backgrounds skills to be effective citizens and strategic community activists.

“Our school mirrors the leadership institute that she started in the ‘40s,” he said. “She would be gratified to know that her example continues to inform and inspire generations of South Carolinians.”

Columbia’s historic Big Apple was packed for the gala, which was attended by a handsome crowd of writers, activists, teachers, historians, graduates of the program, and esteemed guests, including Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann.

“I think it’s exciting to celebrate 10 years,” the mayor said. “I hope we can work together in the future, and that our collaborations continue to grow to keep and preserve this history.” (See his full remarks HERE.)

Dr. Robert Greene II, who teaches history at Claflin University and has served as the Modjeska School’s lead instructor since 2019, said, “It is a mistake to think of South Carolina as merely contributing bad ideas, bad men, and bad moments to history. Yes, we are the only state that began as a colony founded for the express purpose of slavery. But we are also a state that contains a rich history of radicalism and fighting for social justice. For every Ben Tillman we have produced, we have also produced a Septima Clark. For every Wade Hampton III, we have a Robert Smalls. And for every James Byrnes, we have a Modjeska Simkins. 

“Like so many other heroes and heroines of the struggle for freedom in South Carolina history, Ms. Simkins is a hidden diamond in the rough of misunderstood Palmetto State history. She was involved in the battle for civil rights; the crusade for free speech during the Cold War; the anti-war movement during the Vietnam War; the environmental movement; and the fight for a world free of nuclear weapons. If it involved freedom, she was there. If the battle was to be joined against the worst of hyper-capitalism, racism, and imperialism, she could be found on the firing line.”

As a professor at an HBCU, Dr. Greene knows better than most what is at stake in these perilous times. The Modjeska Simkins School’s role is more critical now than it was 10 years ago. Today, we are watching the unabashed assault on public education, the growing incidence of book bans and whitewashed history, and the fear and frustration of school teachers whose curriculums are increasingly being managed by corporate and religious interests. The political climate is so extreme that teaching true history is becoming not just unpopular, but illegal.

“The Modjeska Simkins School matters more now than ever,” said Nichel Dunlap-Thompson, who graduated from the school last spring. “You all see the attempts they are making to put chains around our necks. The Modjeska School is the breath of air needed for the history of this state to remain alive and presented properly and accurately.” (Watch her full remarks HERE.)

Nikky Finney was on hand for the occasion to share a few words about the school and to read a poem. She had just come from a memorial to mark a year since the passing of our mutual friend Marjorie Hammock, who served many years on the board of the SC Progressive Network and repeated the Modjeska School seven times. Finney asked that everyone say her name aloud, and for a moment the room echoed with a resounding MARJORIE! (Listen to Finney’s comments and poem HERE.)

The evening included recognition of Optus Bank, the latest iteration of Victory Savings, which was started Monteith family in 1921. Simkins worked there for many years, and met Bursey when he opened an account there for the Grass Roots Organizing Workshop. Optus’ marketing and communications manager Tereacy Pearson accepted a certificate of appreciation from the school for the bank’s support.

Dianna Freelon-Foster, chair of the Southern Partners Fund, sent words of encouragement from Mississippi. She said she learned about the school through fellow SPF board member Bursey, and her message underscored the importance of cultivating regional allies and teaching our shared history. “Without the undergirding of institutions like the Modjeska Simkins School that builds leaders armed with knowledge ready to do battle strategically and tactically,” she warned “many of our children and children’s children will suffer and pay a price. This requires serious study while simultaneously working to dismantle and rebuild local, state, and federal structures. The Modjeska Simkins School offers this as we move forward.”

Graduate Gabbi Zurlo, now on staff at the Network, said the school teaches “seeing our privilege, seeing outside ourselves to the long game, seeing that our comfort is never worth more than someone else’s dignity and human rights.” (See her full remarks HERE.)

SCPNEF board member Cecil Cahoon is an education expert and advocate. He said his work “has given me a perspective on the Network and the Modjeska School — an understanding of how unique they are, not only in the South but across the country.”

“The work started by people we never knew has passed through many hands over many generations and now is in ours. It’s an obligation, a commitment to do the work, to grow this connective tissue that now includes you — and the people you draw into it.

“You’re part of the muscle that goes all the way back to Robert Smalls and the Reconstruction legislature who established the promise of democracy in our state Constitution, where it had not existed before; through Modjeska Simkins and dozens of people like her that she trained; to all of the Modjeska alumni.”

“The work I’ve done in the South, and with educators’ allies in other organizations and communities — has grounded me, out of necessity, in principles of movement-building, principles of citizenship in action, principles of participatory democracy — the kind of democracy that’s available to everyone. Principles of movement-building, of citizenship in action, and of participatory democracy, are the bedrock and guiding principles of the Progressive Network and the Modjeska School. The lessons we teach all come down to the principle of practicing what we preach, and leading people to understand their power in a real democracy.

“That is heavy work. But it is worth investing in.”

Indeed it is.

The Network and the school are grateful to everyone who made the gala a night to remember. We thank the speakers and graduates for their testimonials, our hard-working staff and volunteers, chef Joe Turkaly for a beautiful and delicious spread, Big Apple owner Richard Durlach and his partner Breedlove for the dance demo and for being such a gracious hosts.

Big thanks to GROW’s house band, Justus, for bringing The Big Apple alive. They are: Ken Cheeks, Sara Williams, Joe Gourley, Chris Gardner, and Dionne Marie Preussner. You can see them every 1st and 3rd Thursday 8–10pm at GROW, 1340 Elmwood Ave. For a taste, check them out on GROW’s YouTube playlist.

For more photos, see our Photo Album.

To support the school with a donation of any amount, click HERE or call the Network’s office at 803-354-6460. Contributions provide scholarship support for students and help cover travel costs for guest presenters.

If you are interested in attending the next session of the school, which begins March 1 and runs through June, you can find details and apply HERE.