Beverly Smith facts for kids

Beverly Smith (born November 16, 1946) is an American writer, teacher, and activist. She is known for her work in Black feminism and women's health. She has a twin sister, Barbara Smith, who is also a well-known writer and activist.

Beverly Smith is a professor of Women's Health at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is famous for co-writing the Combahee River Collective Statement. This important document, written in 1977, discusses the challenges faced by Black women. Her essays on racism, feminism, and women's health have been published across the United States.

Early Life and Family

Beverly Smith was born in Cleveland, Ohio, along with her twin sister, Barbara. Their mother, Hilda Beall Smith, raised them with help from their grandmother and great-aunt. Their father was not part of their childhood.

The family valued education highly. Beverly's mother had a college degree in education, and other family members were teachers. When Beverly was ten years old, her mother passed away from heart problems. This sad event later inspired Beverly to study public health to help others.

Education

Beverly Smith was a good student. She attended several schools in Cleveland before graduating from high school in 1965. She then went to the University of Chicago and earned a degree in History in 1969.

Later, she earned two master's degrees. One was in Public Health from Yale University, and the other was from Harvard University. Her goal was to focus on improving the health of Black women.

Becoming an Activist

Smith became an activist, a person who works to bring about political or social change, while she was still in high school. She joined a group called the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). At the time, many schools in the U.S. were segregated, meaning Black and white students were unfairly kept apart. Smith protested against this segregation.

She was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement and leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael. She even met the famous activist Fannie Lou Hamer. While in college, she continued her activism by forming a support group for Black students to discuss the challenges they faced on campus.

Career and Activism

In 1973, Smith moved to New York City and began writing for Ms. magazine. She also worked in health research. After getting her master's degree in Public Health, she worked at Boston City Hospital. There, she focused on women's health and worked with a feminist health center.

Smith became a strong voice for Black women's health. She spoke at conferences about how racism and sexism affected the health of Black women. She worked on many issues, including reproductive health, mental health, and stopping violence against women and children.

The Combahee River Collective

In 1975, Beverly Smith, her sister Barbara, and another activist named Demita Frazier started the Combahee River Collective. This was a group of Black feminists in Boston. They felt that other feminist groups were not paying enough attention to the unique problems faced by women of color.

The three women wrote the famous Combahee River Collective Statement. This document explained that Black women faced challenges related to their race, gender, and economic status all at once. The statement introduced new ideas like identity politics, which says that parts of a person's identity, like their race and gender, affect their life in unique ways.

The Collective worked to support the rights of all women of color. They disbanded in 1980, but their ideas continue to influence activists today.

Legacy

The Combahee River Collective Statement is one of the most important texts in Black feminism. It helped many women of color get involved in political activism. The group's work has been celebrated and studied in books, and it was honored in 2024 by the History Project for its important contributions.

Selected Works

Beverly Smith has written many articles and essays. Some of her work has appeared in the following publications:

• Conditions
• Sinister Wisdom
• Ms. Magazine

She also contributed to several books, called anthologies, including:

• Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology (1983)
• This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (1981)
• But Some of Us are Brave: Black Women's Studies (1982)