On Saturday, Jan. 25, friends, allies, and alumni of the Modjeska Simkins School will gather at the historic Big Apple in the heart of Columbia to celebrate 10 years of teaching truth in South Carolina. We hope you will join us! (See ticket details below.)

The SC Progressive Network started the school in 2015 to teach civics, organizing skills and strategies, and a true people’s history of the Palmetto State. Since then, some 400 students of all ages, backgrounds, and experience have graduated from the intensive four-month program. Hundreds more have attended the school’s free public programs, deeper dives with experts on topics of current and historical significance.

The gala will be a chance to celebrate the school and the people who have made it a first-class, graduate-level experience that is unlike anything else in South Carolina. In fact, other states are looking to the school as a model to help address the education crisis in this country.

Network Executive Director Brett Bursey said, “Of all the work we’ve done, the school is the most rewarding and necessary. It is exceeding our expectations, and we are gratified by the buy-in we are getting from those who understand the value of education and speaking truth to power.”

“The Modjeska Simkins School has worked hard for 10 years to teach the true history of our state,” said Dr. Robert Greene II, who has served as lead instructor of the Modjeska Simkins School since 2019. “Our upcoming gala will showcase the best of our state, through our students and guest faculty. South Carolina’s history provides a template to fight against oppression and for freedom. Let’s continue this great work together!” (Find out more about the Big Apple in Dr. Greene’s 2019 piece in Oxford American.)

The gala will feature renowned poet Nikky Finney, a longtime supporter of the school and the Network. She spoke at the rally the Network organized in 2017, and she addressed the Modjeska School graduates in 2021. She is a powerful speaker and writer.

The evening will include live jazz and a dance demonstration by Richard Durlach, who owns the Big Apple where the dance craze was born in 1937. We encourage attendees to wear 1930s-era dance attire.

We are very proud of the school, and are excited about our longterm plans. Besides the four-month course, the school also offers online classes, including Dr. Burnett Gallman’s Afrikan history series, and untold stories of South Carolina’s First Nations with USC Native American Studies Center Director Chris Judge. Plans are in the works to increase public programs and create material for younger students.

This event will help raise funds to realize those plans and to boost our visibility ahead of the spring session, which runs March 1 through June 28 online and in-person at GROW, the Network’s HQ in Columbia.

To support the school beyond the gala, you can make a tax-deductible donation HERE. Your gift allows us to offer student scholarships and to cover travel costs of our esteemed guest speakers.

Questions? Call 803-808-3384 or email network@scpronet.com.