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

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner and Abolitionism, abolitionist John Lynch (1740–1820), J ...

Early life

Smith was a Missouri native, graduated from

Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) Lincoln University (LU) is a public state-related historically black university (HBCU) near Oxford, Pennsylvania. Founded as the private Ashmun Institute in 1854, it has been a public institution since 1972. Lincoln is also recognized as th ...

in 1888 and married Clara Alexander of Lynchburg.

Career

An 1899 advertisement in the ''

Richmond Planet ''The Richmond Planet'' was an African American newspaper founded in 1882 in Richmond, Virginia. In 1938, it merged with the '' Richmond Afro-American''. History The paper was founded in 1882 by thirteen former slaves - James H. Hayes, James ...

'' announced that the school offered courses in “phonographic, penning, commercial, English…”, 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

. 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 North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliati ...

). By 1911 they had moved to Durham, North Carolina, where he was the Dean of the Commercial Department at the school. Clara served as the head of the Teacher's Department. He taught at the North Carolina State Summer School for Negro Teachers. 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. 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 Amalya Lyle Kearse (born June 11, 1937)Goldstein, Tom. "Amalya Lyle Kearse; Woman in the News", ''The New York Times'', June 25, 1979. is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and a wo ...

References

Educators from Kansas City, Missouri People from Lynchburg, Virginia People from Durham, North Carolina African-American educators Year of birth missing Year of death missing Place of birth missing Place of death missing Business educators Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) alumni {{US-business-academic-bio-stub