Georgiana Simpson

Experience and contributions during segregation A letter condemning the removal of Simpson from Univ. of Chicago campus housing Simpson and her achievements have been discussed in the context of the civil rights movement during segregation. She experienced racial prejudice very early on in her enrollment at the University of Chicago, particularly in housing; that she was invited to reside in the women's dormitory was met with protest from white students. She was initially asked to leave the women's dormitory by Sophonisba Breckinridge, who headed the residence hall, but Simpson refused. Consequently, Simpson took her courses during the summer to avoid further racially motivated conflicts with the predominantly white, southern student body. Simpson returned to Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C., to teach as most universities did not hire black women outside of home economics courses at this time. Simpson also wrote a letter to W. E. B. Du Bois in 1936 inquiring about an encyclopedic project and how she may contribute an article on the "Negro dialect" or on the "philosophy of Negro folk literature." Her final major publication was a translation of a French work, detailing the biography of Toussaint L'Ouverture, the leader of the Haitian Revolution.

In 2017, the Monumental Women Project, co-founded by Asya Akca and Shae Omonijo, honored Simpson by commissioning a bust of her in the Reynolds Club at the University of Chicago, which was placed directly across from a relief that honors President Judson.