Theodore Parker Smith was a leader at business colleges in the U.S. He ran Smith's Business College in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Early life

Smith was a Missouri native, graduated from Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) in 1888[1] and married Clara Alexander of Lynchburg.[2]

Career

An 1899 advertisement in the Richmond Planet announced that the school offered courses in “phonographic, penning, commercial, English…”,[3] and a 1908 publication lauded Smith as “one of the pioneers” in the work of training African Americans in business principles.

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 taught 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 taught at the North Carolina State Summer School for Negro Teachers.[8]

They later moved to Kansas City, Missouri and in August 1933 Smith 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.

Personal life

Smith's children included Myra Lyle Smith Kearse, who in turn was the mother of Amalya Lyle Kearse.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Holland, Antonio Frederick (2006). Nathan B. Young and the Struggle Over Black Higher Education. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 9780826265500.
  2. 1 2 Moses, Sibyl E. (2006). African American Women Writers in New Jersey, 1836-2000: A Biographical Dictionary and Bibliographic Guide. Rutgers University Press. p. 99. ISBN 9780813540191.
  3. ↑ "[Advertisement] Richmond Planet (Richmond, Virginia) 22 Jul 1899, page 2 - Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  4. ↑ "From Lynchburg, Richmond Planet (Richmond, Virginia) 20 Nov 1897, page 4 - Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  5. ↑ "Able Addresses, Richmond Planet (Richmond, Virginia) 6 Aug 1910, page 5 - Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  6. ↑ "Clipping from The Wilmington Morning Star - Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  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 - Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  9. ↑ "Tear Gas Blinds Robbers, Two Wounded by Wild Shots". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 26 August 1933. Retrieved 2018-11-07.


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