“S” is for Simkins, Francis Butler [1897-1966]. Historian. After graduating from the University of South Carolina, Simkins obtained his Ph.D. from Columbia University. In 1928 he joined the faculty of Longwood College in Farmville, Virginia. He made enormous contributions to the field of Southern history. Two themes recurred in his writing: The South ought to be treated on its own terms and the South possessed cultural characteristics that were different from the rest of the nation. Simkins co-authored South Carolina During Reconstruction and The Women of the Confederacy. His biography of South Carolina’s governor Benjamin Tillman, Pitchfork Ben Tillman, has become a classic. In 1947 he published The South, Old and New: A History, 1820-1947 that became a widely-used textbook for southern history. In 1954 Francis Butler Simkins as elected president of the Southern Historical Association.
“S” is for Simkins, Francis Butler [1897-1966]
