E E Smith High School - Smithsonian Yearbook (Fayetteville, NC)

Page 18 text:

J. C. Clement Senwr C. L. Thompson I. C. Fowler Sponsors M. L. Spivey To these four persons we are indeed thank- ful for the guidance, the understanding and the efforts, they extended in behalf of our betterment through life. For them, if for no other reason, we will strive to become an intergral part of the higher society for which they have prepared us. I4

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Qui' Alma Mater Smith High we love thy name Be thou our guide With deep affection and recollection, Our Alma Mater thou, Under thy sheltering arms, We'll stand always And sing in the praises of our Smith High School Rah, Rah, Rah, with hearty cheers, Hip, Hip, Hip, We'll have no fears, Smith High we love thy name Be thou our guide With deep affection and recollection, Our Alma Mater thou. Under thy sheltering arms We'll stand always And sing in the praises of our Smith High School I3

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301' whom our sc-QQOL is named Rf Q 2. '-,sw 'N Qt t , .. J lx al To you E.E.Smith may mean many different things,but the name is that of a very great educationer Dr.EzekielEzra Smith. In addition to his achievements in education he was also a preacher, a soldier, a businessman and a diplomat. Dr. Smith was born on May 23, 1852 to free parents in Duplin County, North Carolina. Among the many difficulties of his early childhood there were no schools for Negroes. Following the civil war the few schools in the South were opened to Negroes. Ezekiel worked and saved enough money to enter Shaw Collegiate Institute, now Shaw University, in Raleigh, as a work student. In 1878 Ezekiel Smith completed his formal education receiving an A. B. Degree. The following fall Dr. Smith was elected principal of a school in Goldsboro, North Caro- lina. Feeling his call to preaching Dr. Smith was ordered by the Baptist State Convention of which he later became president of until 1883. Dr. Smith was also a member of the Falt Carey Foreign Mission Committee and was moderative of the Union Association. In the military aspect of his life Dr. Smith was important in the organization of the Fourth Battalion of the North Carolina General and in the same year, 1880, he was ap- pointed a major. Dr. Smith was sent to Liberia as Minister Resident and Council General of the United States. He served this important post for two years, during which time he was almost sole responsible in the great improvement of relations between the United States and Liberia. Now a high school has the honor and distinction of the name of this great educator, Dr.EzekielEzra Smith. And now also we the students, teachers and associates who have any contact with the school have the burden of upholding its great name and tradition. 15