E. June Smith (1900-1982)

January 18, 2007 
/ Contributed By: Quin'Nita F. Cobbins-Modica

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E. June Smith

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E. June Smith, a prominent leader in Seattleโ€™s civil rights movement, was born in Cairo, Illinois in 1900 and worked as a secretary in St. Louis.ย  Smith came to Seattle with her husband Roscoe O. Smith, a railroad porter, in 1941.ย  Soon after her arrival, she worked as an insurance agent and, in 1948, co-founded the Beta Kappa Chapter of Iota Phi Lambda Sorority, a business and professional organization.ย  Smith became deeply involved in civil rights activities along with Philip Burton, a local attorney who initiated suits against discriminatory practices in the city.ย  In the late 1950s, she served as a member on the executive committee of the Seattle chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and became its president in 1963.ย  She led the organization for the next five years during the most active period of the local movement, with her home, located on 2310 East Pine, serving as the branch office.

As president of the NAACP and the only female member on the Central Area Civil Rights Committee (CACRC), an organization formed by principal male leaders Edwin T. Pratt of the Seattle Urban League, Rev. Samuel B. McKinney, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, and Rev. John H. Adams, pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E) Church to be the central voice on civil rights issues, Smith aroused the consciousness of the city through direct action campaigns. Partnering with the Seattle branch of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and CACRC in 1965, Smith organized and led to the King County Courthouse steps a protest march that attracted an interracial group of approximately 600 people.ย  Here, leaders aired the grievances of African Americans living in the Central Area, a predominantly black residential area of the city.ย  The marchers targeted discrimination against African Americans in labor unions and housing, sought relief from police abuse, and urged school officials to desegregate the public schools.

During her second term as head of the Seattle NAACP in 1966, Smith directly challenged the Seattle School Board by launching a bold plan to persuade parents and their children to boycott Seattle schools in protest of the slow pace of the School Boardโ€™s action on school desegregation.ย  Smith called on parents to keep their children out of school on March 31 and April 1 to drive attention to the boardโ€™s continued segregation of black students.ย  Uncertain of how many parents would participate in the march, Smith signed up parents to register their children as they arrived for regular school. The two-day boycott commenced as scheduled and demonstrated to the entire city the unity of the black community around the issue of quality education for the Central Area children.

In 1965, Smith helped found the NAACP Credit Union and for the first ten years of its existence served as the treasurer-manager. In 1981, she was honored by the local Seattle section of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) who included her in their special exhibit, โ€œBridging Generations: A Tribute to Black History.โ€ย  She was also honored by the NAACP at its regional conference for her 25 years of continuous and distinguished service on the local board.

Smith died on February 9, 1982 in Seattle. She was 82.

About the Author

Author Profile

Quinโ€™Nita Cobbins-Modica is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she teaches courses in African American and civil rights history.ย  Her teaching and research focus on the history of black womenโ€™s social activism and politics, particularly in the American West.ย  Her most recent article, โ€œLet Usโ€ฆTake Our Places in Public Affairs: Black Womenโ€™s Political Activism in the Pacific Northwest, 1870-1920,โ€ explores the early political activities of western black women and the ways they wielded their electoral and political influence to help shape concepts of freedom and progressive politics in the region.ย  Currently, she is working on a forthcoming manuscript that examines the long history of black womenโ€™s organizing tradition, political engagement, and activism in Seattle that extended well beyond formal politics and the fight for womenโ€™s suffrage. While illuminating African American history in the Pacific Northwest, her work offers an expansive new interpretation of the symbiotic relationship between womenโ€™s activism, civil rights, and public service.

As a strong supporter of public history and the digital humanities, Cobbins-Modica works with local historical institutions and organizations and also contributes to online public-facing history projects. She is presently a participant in the Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau Program, delivering engaging lectures across urban and rural areas in Washington state and highlighting the central role black women played in the stateโ€™s civil rights movement.ย  She has served as a researcher and guest teaching lecturer for the Northwest African American History Museum and as a gallery exhibit reviewer, exhibition co-curator, and historical consultant for the Museum of History & Industry in Seattle. In 2017, she co-authored a book,ย Seattle on the Spot,ย that explored photographs of Black Seattle through the lens of photographer, Al Smith. She also has published articles profiling western black women activists for the Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000ย digital project.

Since 2013, Cobbins-Modica has been a dedicated member of the BlackPast.org team, having worked in several capacities, including webmaster, content contributor, associate editor, and executive director.

She completed her Ph.D in History at the University of Washington with a Bachelor's degree in History from Fisk University and a Masterโ€™s degree in History from the University of Georgia.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Cobbins-Modica, Q. (2007, January 18). E. June Smith (1900-1982). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/smith-e-june-1900-1982/

Source of the Author's Information:

โ€œE. June Smith, Active Community Worker Passes,โ€ย  The Facts, February 1982; Quintard Taylor, The Forging of a Black Community: Seattleโ€™s Central District from 1870 through the Civil Rights Era (Seattle: University of Washington Press); Bob Monahan, โ€œMarch to Courthouse: Rally Here Notes Selma โ€˜Spirit,โ€™โ€
Seattle Times, Mar. 21, 1965. p. 2;ย ย  Herb Robinson, โ€œSeattle Civil-Rights Leaders Set School Boycott,โ€ Seattle Times, Feb. 20, 1966; โ€œE. June Smith, NAACP Leader, Dies at 82,โ€ Seattle Times, Feb. 11, 1982;
Joanย  Slinger, et al., Seattle in Black and White (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011).

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