Christine Shoecraft Smith

Christine Shoecraft Smith
1916
Born Christine Shoecraft
(1866-07-01)July 1, 1866
Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana
Died 1954 (aged 8788)
Nationality American
Other names Mrs. C. S. Smith
Occupation community worker
Years active 1883-1950
Known for NACWC 13th president

Christine Shoecraft Smith (1866–1954) was an African-American community worker began her career as the assistant principal of the Alabama State Normal and Industrial School. She married an AME minister, who would become a bishop in the church and assisted him as the manager of the press organ of the Sunday School Union. She worked in many clubs and served as the 13th president of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs.

Early life

Christine Shoecraft was born on July 1, 1866 in Indianapolis, Indiana to Mary B. and A. R. Shoecraft. When she was two years old, Shoecraft's mother died and she was raised by her father and grandmother. At age eight, the family moved to Muncie. Though she worked at washing, ironing and in domestic labor during her schooling, she graduated from high school when she was seventeen. With her savings from working, she was able to buy her graduation dress.[1]

Career

Shoecraft was immediately offered a position as assistant principal of the State Normal and Industrial School in Normal, Alabama, serving in that capacity until December, 1887.[2] The following year, in December, 1888, she married Rev. Charles Spencer Smith.[3] Rev. Smith was the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME)'s Sunday School Union. It was the largest press owned by African-Americans in the United States. Smith went to work at the press and served as a book-keeper, cashier, and clerk before becoming the assistant manager of the Union, the first woman to hold the post. Her work was not interrupted by the birth of their son, Charles Spencer Smith, Jr.[4] and she founded the Women's Club of Nashville in 1896, aligning it with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC).[5] By 1899, Smith was involved with the NACWC and had been elected as its recording secretary.[6] She continued to serve as the assistant manager of the press through 1900, when Rev. Smith became a bishop of the AME Church.[5] His work required him to travel widely,[7] and Smith established a home in Detroit, Michigan.[5]

Smith was elected president of the Michigan State Association of Colored Women and was an executive member of the Detroit branch of the Urban League. In addition, she served on the executive of the Lucy Thurman YWCA branch and was the residential and maintenance secretary of the Detroit YWCA for six years.[8] In 1916, Smith organized the Young People's Department of the AME Church's Women’s Parent Mite Missionary Society.[9] In 1923, the year that her husband died, she was elected the first vice president of the Mite Society and in 1931 began serving as president of the organization.[8][10] In that capacity, she traveled to Kingston, Jamaica several times, to make presentations and assist them in their missionary work. The Mite Society was an organization of women who both did social work in their community and raised funds to pay the salaries of those working as missionaries work abroad and build new churches.[11][12] She served on the executive of numerous clubs and organizations, such as the United Council of Church Women, the Race Relations Commission of the Federal Council of Churches, the Women’s Missionary Society. She was a delegate to all of the biennial meetings of the NACWC[13] and in 1946, was elected its president.[14] As president, she traveled widely throughout the United States and made a to Mexico near the end of her term.[15][16][17] For several years she had contributed articles to National Notes the newsletter of the NACWC, until it was suspended in 1935. Smith revived the publication in 1947 and became its editor-in-chief.[18] Her term ended in 1948 and that same year, she was appointed to the board of the National Council for a Permanent Fair Employment.[17]

Death and legacy

Smith died in 1954.[19] Her papers created during her years of service to the NACWC are housed in a microfilm collection compiled by the Women’s Studies Department from the University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, New York.[20]

References

Citations

Bibliography

  • Leslie, LaVonne (2012). The History of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, Inc.: A Legacy of Service. Bloomington, Indiana: Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 978-1-4797-2265-5.
  • Mason, Karen (1982). "Charles S. Smith papers: circa 1875-1923". Bentley Historical Library. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  • Scruggs, Lawson Andrew (1893). Women of Distinction: Remarkable in Works and Invincible in Character. Raleigh, North Carolina: L. A. Scruggs. OCLC 4255360.
  • Williams, Lillian Serece; Boehm, Randolph, eds. (1992). A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of Records of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (PDF). Bethesda, MD: University Publications of America. ISBN 1-55655-467-2.
  • Wright Jr., Richard R.; Hawkins, John R. (1916). Centennial encyclopaedia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church: containing principally the biographies of the men and women, both ministers and laymen, whose labors during a hundred years, helped make the A.M.E. Church what it is: also short historical sketches ... and general information about African Methodism and the Christian church in general. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Book Concern of the A.M.E. Church. OCLC 48151266.
  • Wright Jr., Richard R. (1947). The Encyclopedia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (2nd ed.). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: A.M.E. Church. OCLC 646191285.
  • "50th Anniversary Banquet Scheduled". Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Pittsburgh Courier. October 1, 1966. p. 5. Retrieved 22 February 2017 via Newspapers.com.
  • "Anniversary of the Woman's Parent Mite Missionary Society". Kingston, Jamaica: The Daily Gleaner. September 4, 1933. p. 41. Retrieved 22 February 2017 via Newspaperarchive.com.
  • "Missionary Ingathering". Kingston, Jamaica: The Daily Gleaner. Mar 29, 1935. p. 18. Retrieved 22 February 2017 via Newspaperarchive.com.
  • "Mrs. Kendrick Appointed Executive Sec'y of NACW". Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Pittsburgh Courier. November 30, 1946. p. 8. Retrieved 22 February 2017 via Newspapers.com.
  • "NACW Head to Speak at Dinner". Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Pittsburgh Courier. January 18, 1947. p. 9. Retrieved 22 February 2017 via Newspapers.com.
  • "NACW President on FEPC Board". Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Pittsburgh Courier. January 3, 1948. p. 10. Retrieved 22 February 2017 via Newspapers.com.
  • "Negro Club Women Meet". Chicago, Illinois: The Chicago Tribune. August 15, 1899. p. 7. Retrieved 22 February 2017 via Newspapers.com.
  • "President of NACW Deplores Trend Away from Church; Mrs. Smith Finds Home Problems Shocking in Southern Trip". Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Pittsburgh Courier. March 8, 1947. p. 8. Retrieved 22 February 2017 via Newspapers.com.
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