November 2022 - “Embodying History with Grace - Dan Smith"
In this 400Years.today project I try to express the fundamental truth that what has happened in the past resonates powerfully today. The effects of slavery are still with us. My September 2019 blog taught that lesson through the story of Daniel Smith who died on October 19, 2022. It was a privilege to know him. Today I honor him for literally embodying the fact that slavery was not so long ago. You see, Dan’s father was born enslaved.
You might think, “Wait a minute… That’s impossible!” But Dan was born in 1932 when his father was seventy. If you subtract 70 years from 1932, it’s 1862, before the Emancipation Proclamation and the north’s victory freed Dan’s father, Abram Smith.
When I bring this example up, some people who are tired of my anti-racism work roll their eyes and say that I only see the bad parts of our history. Similarly, these folks might argue that you shouldn’t teach about racism in school because that sullies the virtue of the U. S. They brand anti-racism work as unpatriotic.
But Abram Smith left Dan a valuable gift that we could use today. He taught his son that you can both confront the horror of racism and remain proud of our country - that this country offers great opportunities. Though their ancestors came to America in chains, he told Dan that he can succeed in life. Dan explained on CBS Mornings that his father grabbed him and said, “This is America. We came from the strongest of the strong. We survived the ships.” Dan said that his father instructed him “to be strong and to survive.”
Abram Smith certainly had to be strong. He was born in 1863 in Massies Mills, Virginia, as property of another man. He survived as a witness to history, living through counter reconstruction, the birth of the Klan, Jim Crow laws, and lynch mobs. Dan dove into history himself, joking about being a “Black Forrest Gump” by showing up at countless historical moments. Dan attended the 1963 March on Washington, crossed Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge, worked with Martin Luther King Jr., and attended Barack Obama’s first inauguration.
But Dan was not just a witness. He helped change history through civil rights work, much of it in the south. He did so without malice or hate. He could get angry, such as when a car full of white men tried to run him off a southern road, but he never let that anger blind him to the dignity and humanity of all people.
Everyone who knew Dan will miss his dignity and humanity. At his October 29 memorial service, I heard many speak of his unique blend of strength and grace. He was a fighter and a gentleman. Supported by his wife of 16 years, Loretta Neumann, he carried those qualities until the day he died.
Further Action
1) Get to know Dan Smith’s story. He died before his memoir, Son of a Slave: A Black Man’s Journey in White America, was published. Read it and learn more about this down-to-earth, remarkable person. Available through Politics & Prose.
2) Learn about Loretta, Dan’s wife, and her social justice work. She and Dan had to navigate many challenges including housing discrimination. Read more at Blog #34.
3) The next time someone tells you that slavery is so long ago, or that we’re living in a “post-racial time,” tell them about Dan. Share this article from the New York Times, or this clip from CBS Morning or this video from Sunday Today.
4) Don’t let anyone tell you that there’s a contradiction between being honest about racism and being a patriotic citizen. Daniel Smith served his country in numerous ways, and despite many challenges he remained civil and kind. He continually thought it important to call out racist systems and behaviors that still plague our United States.