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Fellows in Residence

John L. S. Simpkins, Esquire
African and African-American Politics

As the Associate Director of the Riley Institute, John Simpkins is also a teacher, writer, and public servant with a strong interest in civic education and community development. Born in Columbia, South Carolina, John graduated from Lexington High School as a National Merit Scholar and a Harvard Scholar. At Harvard University, he majored in Government and focused primarily on Africa and African-American politics.

Simpkins served as a Riley Institute Fellow in Residence from October 5 – 11, 2002. On Tuesday, October 8, 2002, he delivered an address, “Birth of a Rainbow Nation: Creation of the New South Africa,” in Johns Hall 101.

As John was graduating from Harvard the apartheid regime in South Africa was coming to an end and a transition period to majority rule was beginning. It was during this tumultuous period that John, age 23, would begin a two-year stay in the townships and cities of an evolving South Africa. The world was watching what many thought would become a war between the white minority and millions of Africans subject to the whims of an increasingly desperate and conservative white government. During this period he would do research on the rapidly changing institutions of this surprising new nation, teach, coach, and become highly involved in the community development of the townships and urban ghettos that were the brutal legacy of the old minority regime.

Returning to the United States, John entered Duke Law School where he would focus on International and Comparative Law and earn both the JD and LLM degrees. During this period John won the highly competitive Keenan Ethics Program Instructorship, was on the Moot Court Board, the Dean’s Advisory Council, and was an exchange student at The University of Cape Town. After graduating from Duke, John accepted a position with the prestigious Washington, DC firm of Baach Robinson & Lewis. In April 2002, he left the firm to write, teach and work in community development and public service. His writing appears in such publication as The New Republic, The Oxford American and The New York Times Magazine.