Barbara Smith

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Barbara Smith

Barbara Smith

Alum

Co-founder of the Combahee River Collective and co-author of the Combahee River Collective Statement

Barbara Smith is a Black feminist pioneer, lesbian, activist, author, lecturer and publisher. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, she and her twin sister, Beverly, began participating in civil rights protests in the 1960s. In 1974 Smith co-founded the in Boston, Massachusetts, and in 1977, she co-authored the , with Beverly, and Demita Frazier.

Smith taught her first class on Black women’s literature in 1973 at Emerson College and has taught at numerous colleges and universities. She co-founded , the first U.S. publisher of books for women of color, in 1980.

In 2005, Smith was elected to the in Albany, New York. She was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize that same year. Smith’s essays, reviews and other work has been published in The New York Times, The Black Scholar, Ms., The Guardian, The Village Voice, and The Nation, among others.

Class year: 1969
Major: sociology and English; Doctor of Humane Letters, 2019

Happening at ��ý

Recent Campus News

Jean Grossholtz, 1961–2021

Jean Grossholtz, Professor of Politics, contributor to Asian studies, and the force behind women’s studies at ��ý died on February 9, 2021. Colleagues describe Jean with some common phrases: “a legend,” “an inspiration to live up to the ideals [we] profess,” “a fierce and fearless advocate for justice,” “a force to be reckoned with,” “the epitome of the scholar/activist,” and “a one-of-a-kind force of nature.”