Maxine A. Smith has a long list of accomplishments since the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Following rejection by Memphis State University, based solely on race, she became a volunteer for the Memphis Branch NAACP. She was named Executive Secretary in April 1962. Mrs. Smith coordinated the major movements of that period that destroyed the walls of legal segregation, including the sit-in movement of the late 1960’s that opened all private and public facilities to Blacks. She worked on the coordinating committee of the 1968 Sanitation Strike as well as the school boycotts of 1969, which led to the first Black Superintendent of Memphis City Schools.
The Memphis Branch, the south’s largest, flourished under Mrs. Smith’s guidance. For 32 years during her 33-year tenure as Executive Secretary, this Branch received the Thalheimer Award, the NAACP’s top national award, as one of the nation’s outstanding NAACP Branches. Similarly, the Memphis Branch Annually received the highest state and regional awards.
Mrs. Smith has personally received over 160 awards and citations. Included among them are:
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One of five cited by National NAACP for Outstanding NAACP Leadership
•Outstanding Alumnae Awards by both of her undergraduate (Spelman College) and graduate schools (Middlebury College)
•National Education Association’s Whitney H. Young , Jr. Memorial Award
•Bill of Rights Award – American Civil Liberties Union
•Black Woman of the Year Award – Grambling University
•Humanitarian of the Year Award – National Conference of Christian Jews
•Living Legacy Award by her national sorority, Delta Sigma Theta
•The National Civil Rights Museum – 2003 National Freedom Award Recipient along with former President Bill Clinton
•Doctor of Humane Letters from her undergraduate school, Spelman College (2004)
•NAACP National Education Advocacy Award, which will now be called the Maxine Smith Award
•Recipient of the Althea T.L. Simmons Social Action Award for Outstanding Contributions in Civil Rights, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. 45th National Convention, Chicago, Illinois
•Presented the LeMoyne-Owen College-2004 Legacy Award for Courage, Virtue and Truth
•Hattie Bradley Pioneering Award (Black History Living Legacy) New Sardis Baptist Church. February 26, 2006
•Mary Collier Lawson Distinguished Leadership – Memphis Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. – March 11, 2006
•National Rosa L. Parks and Coretta Scott King Award – Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. 62nd Boule Detroit, MI – July 12, 2006
In October 1997, Mrs. Smith was the recipient of the Annual Richard H. Green Award, the most prestigious honor in urban education, presented by the Council of The Great City Schools.
She is a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the National Civil Rights Museum. She was appointed by the Governor of Tennessee to the Board of Regents and is a member of the National Board of Directors NAACP and National Board of Trustees NAACP’s Special Contribution Fund, National Kidney Foundation (NKF), Women’s Foundation for Greater Memphis, the Memphis/Shelby County Crime Commission, Chairperson, NAACP National Education Committee, Member of NAACP National Sub-Committee on Membership, Health, Political Action, Spingarn and Life Membership Committees.
Mrs. Smith’s authorized biography by Drs. Sherry Hoppe and Bruce Speck entitled, Maxine Smith’s Unwilling Pupils Lessons Learned in Memphis’ Civil Rights Classroom, was published by the University of Tennessee Press and had its first official issue on April 18, 2007.
She is the wife of Dr. Vasco A. Smith, Jr. and the mother of Dr. Vasco A. Smith, III. Mrs. Smith has a M.A. degree from Middlebury College and an A.B. from Spelman College. She is the recipient of the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws (L.L.D.) conferred by LeMoyne-Owen College.
