17 Facts About Maxine Smith

Maxine Smith born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, was an academic, civil rights activist, and school board official.

Maxine Smith was the youngest of three children of Joseph and Georgia Rounds Atkins.

In 1945, at age 15, Smith graduated Booker T Washington High School in Memphis.

Maxine Smith earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Spelman College in Atlanta in 1949, and a master's degree in French from Middlebury College in Vermont.

Maxine Smith then taught briefly at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1957, Maxine Smith applied to pursue graduate studies at the University of Memphis, but was denied admission because she was black.

In 1962, Maxine Smith was named Executive Secretary of the branch, and continued in that role until her retirement in 1995.

In 1960, Maxine Smith assisted in desegregating Memphis public schools, and in 1961 Maxine Smith personally escorted the first 13 black children to their new desegregated schools.

In 1968, Maxine Smith served on the coordinating committee of the Memphis sanitation strike, an event which brought Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1971, Maxine Smith was the first African-American elected to the Memphis Board of Education, a position she held until her retirement in 1995.

In 1991, Maxine Smith was elected president of the Memphis Board of Education, a role she served for two terms, retiring in 1995.

Maxine Smith was presented with a Freedom Award by the National Civil Rights Museum in 2003, and awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters by her alma mater, Spelman College, in 2004.

Maxine Smith was featured in the 2008 documentary about the Civil Rights Movement, The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306.

Maxine Smith had a number of health issues, and underwent heart surgery in 2012.

Maxine Smith died April 26,2013, at age 83, and was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis.

Maxine Smith was the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement in Memphis, having served on the National Board of the NAACP and as the Executive Secretary of the Memphis Branch of the NAACP where she coordinated the desegregation of everything in Memphis from schools to lunch counters to theater seating, and libraries, as well as public accommodations and facilities.

Maxine Smith was an unstoppable force during the Civil Rights Movement, not only in Memphis but across America.