T. Parker Smith

Theodore Parker Smith was a leader at business colleges in the U.S. He ran Smith's Business College in Lynchburg, Virginia. An 1899 advertisement in the Richmond Planet announced that the school offered courses in “phonographic, penning, commercial, English…”,[1] and a 1908 publication lauded him as “one of the pioneers” in the work of training African Americans in the principles of business. Smith, a Missouri native, graduated from Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) in 1888[2] and married Clara Alexander of Lynchburg.[3]

By 1897, he was a professor at a business college in Lynchburg, Virginia.[4] He later served as president and manager of Smith's Business College in Lynchburg where he trained stenography and bookkeeping. In 1910, Smith left that position to join the faculty of the National Religious Training School (a predecessor of North Carolina Central University).[5] By 1911 they had moved to Durham, North Carolina, where he was the Dean of the Commercial Department at the school.[6] Clara served as the head of the Teacher’s Department.[7] He also taught at the North Carolina State Summer School for Negro Teachers.[8]

He later moved to Kansas City, Missouri and in August 1933 he was hit in the hip by a stray bullet shot by fleeing bank robbers.[9] By 1934, Smith was operating a new Smith’s Business College in Kansas City, Missouri.

Smith's children included Myra Lyle Smith Kearse, who in turn was the mother of Amalya Lyle Kearse.[3]

References

  1. ↑ [Advertisement] Richmond Planet (Richmond, Virginia) 22 Jul 1899, page 2, accessed January 12, 2018 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16497113/advertisement_richmond_planet/
  2. ↑ Holland, Antonio Frederick. "T.+Parker+smith"&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiR9_ep95LdAhVDR6wKHbUSBhMQ6AEIQTAF#v=onepage&q="T.%20Parker%20smith"&f=false Nathan B. Young and the struggle over black higher education. Vol. 1 University of Missouri Press, 2006. p135
  3. 1 2 Moses, Sibyl E. African American Women Writers in New Jersey, 1836-2000: A Biographical Dictionary and Bibliographic Guide. Rutgers University Press, 2003. p99
  4. ↑ From Lynchburg, Richmond Planet (Richmond, Virginia) 20 Nov 1897, page 4, accessed January 13, 2018 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16496010/freom_lynchburg_richmond_planet/
  5. ↑ Able Addresses, Richmond Planet (Richmond, Virginia) 6 Aug 1910, page 5, accessed January 13, 2018 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16496828/able_addresses_richmond_planet/
  6. ↑ Colored Training School, The Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, North Carolina) 20 Aug 1910, page 1, accessed January 13, 2018 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16497659/
  7. ↑ Begin Second Year of Training School, Winston-Salem Journal (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) 12 Oct 1911, page 7, accessed January 13, 2018 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16497803/
  8. ↑ Summer School at Greensboro, The New York Age (New York, New York) 1 Aug 1912, page 8, accessed January 13, 2018 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16497854/summer_school_at_greensboro_the_new/
  9. ↑ Tear Gas Blinds Robbers, Two Wounded by Wild Shots, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) 26 Aug 1933 page 1, accessed January 13, 2018 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16496380/


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