Eric Ledell Smith Explained

Eric Ledell Smith (1949 – 2008)^[1] was an American historian and author.^[2] He served as Commissioner for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. He was part of a presentation on Frederick Douglass aired on C-SPAN.^[3]

Smith was born in Detroit, Michigan. He was inspired by his grandmother, poet Florence Brown. At the time of his death he was working on the Trailblazers: Innovative African Americans in Pennsylvania History project writing profiles of historical figures.^[4]

He wrote about subjects of Pennsylvania and African American history including books on Bert Williams, Black Opera, African American theaters, the State Museum of Pennsylvania, civil rights movement in Pennsylvania, and an article on the Chester Race Riot.

Writings

• Bert Williams : a biography of the pioneer Black comedian McFarland & Company, Jefferson, North Carolina (1992) ^[5]
• Blacks in opera : an encyclopedia of people and companies, 1873-1993 McFarland (1994) ^[6]
• The protégé becomes a prophet : Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller Pennsylvania heritage (1974). Vol. 22, no. 2 (spring 1996)
• African Americans in Pennsylvania; Shifting Historical Perspectives, edited with Joe W. Trotter, Penn State University Press (1997)
• "Researching the Underground Railroad in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania" (2000)^[7]
• "Painted with pride in the U.S.A." PHMC, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (2001)
• African American theater buildings : an illustrated historical directory, 1900-1955 McFarland (2003) ^[8]
• The State Museum of Pennsylvania : a centennial history, 1905-2005 (2005)
• "The civil rights movement in Pennsylvania" Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (2006)^[9]
• "The 1917 Race Riot in Chester, Pennsylvania". Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies. 75 (2): 297–341 (2008)

Notes and References

1. Book: Eric Ledell Smith, author on black history, dies.
2. https://journals.psu.edu/phj/article/viewFile/59577/59301
3. Web site: Eric Ledell Smith | C-SPAN.org. www.c-span.org.
4. Web site: Trailblazers: Innovative African Americans in Pennsylvania History | PHMC > History > Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine > Current & Past Issues > 2010 > Winter. www.phmc.state.pa.us.
5. Book: Smith, Eric Ledell. Bert Williams: a biography of the pioneer Black comedian. August 9, 1992. 24910154. Open WorldCat.
6. Book: Smith, Eric Ledell. Blacks in opera: an encyclopedia of people and companies, 1873-1993. August 9, 1995. McFarland. 31076715. Open WorldCat.
7. Book: Smith, Eric Ledell. Researching the Underground Railroad in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. August 9, 2000. publisher not identified. 1011629024. Open WorldCat.
8. Book: Smith, Eric Ledell. African American theater buildings : an illustrated historical directory, 1900-1955. August 9, 2003. London: McFarland. 9780786415298. catalog.princeton.edu.
9. Book: The civil rights movement in Pennsylvania. August 9, 2003. 52169247. Open WorldCat.