Rev. William Amos "Booker" Smith, Sr.
On March 25, SCC hosted a luncheon honoring SCC’s first black graduate, Rev. Dr. William Amos “Booker” Smith Sr. (BJC ’31). Guest speaker, Rev. Smith’s son, Rev. William (Bill) Smith II, shared stories of his father’s accomplishments and challenges.
Bill says that after his father’s family moved to Iowa from Kentucky, they lived in a boxcar near the train yards in West Burlington. “That’s what you call luxury accommodations,” he jokes.
Rev. Smith was an eager learner and excelled scholastically. He became the first black student to graduate from Burlington High School in 1929.
Bill says that in those days, opportunities for blacks were few and far between.
“He was black, he was poor, he had asthma and a stuttering impediment. That’s enough right there to say that you’ve got a formula for failure.”
Bill says in spite of his father’s situation, it wasn’t enough to stop him. “About the size of a pinhole – he had that much hope.”
He was offered a scholarship to attend then-Burlington Junior College (BJC). That one scholarship would open up an entire new world to him. Two years later, in 1931, he became the first black to graduate from BJC. He graduated at the top of his class.
Bill adds that Rev. Smith wasn’t driven by success or ego. “He wasn’t trying to be the first at anything or to be the best of anyone. He was simply trying to escape the bonds of poverty.”
Rev. Smith served as pastor for churches in six states.
In part due to his impressive academic achievements at BJC, he was offered a scholarship to attend Drake University in Des Moines where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history. His sports were football, track and shot put, and he served on the college debate team. He maintained an A- average.
After graduating from Drake, he returned to Burlington and became the first black ordained minister in 1934. He served as pastor of Union Baptist Church.
“He knew that’s where the source of his blessings were, so he answered the call to preach,” says Bill.
Over the course of his life, he would serve as pastor at six churches in five states.
He entered the Army during WWII, where he spent 15 years as an Army chaplain before retiring as a Major. In 1944, he was directed by General Eisenhower to study and make recommendations on negro troop morale.
“No matter where he was – all over Europe during the war, wherever he lived across the country, he never forgot Burlington. He kept this place in his mind and in his heart.”
As sponsor of the Ft. Valley State College debate team, 1957.
After retiring from the Army, he earned Divinity and Theology degrees from Crozer Seminary in Pennsylvania, and completed coursework for a Ph. D. at Temple University in Philadelphia.
He held a number of teaching and administrative positions at colleges and universities in South Dakota, Arkansas, Georgia and Florida.
Later he spent time as a minister at a church in Fort Valley, GA where he worked with college classmate Dr. Martin Luther King.
He moved to St. Petersburg, FL to become the pastor of First Baptist Institutional Church and serve as Professor of Social Studies at St. Petersburg Junior College. While there, he taught a new generation of students, giving them the same opportunities he had received so long ago.
Vivian (Dawson) Smith, Rev. Bill Smith, II, Charlotte Weldon hold Rev. Smith's Memorial Portrait.
His life had come full circle.
Rev. Smith passed away on October 2, 1973.
Bill adds, “you honor yourselves while you’re honoring him, because without that very first scholarship, who knows where he would have ended up.”
Rev. Smith’s plaque hangs in Building 400 near Loren Walker Arena.
Listen to Bill share a few stories of his father Rev. William Smith below.
For the Bill Smith's full speech, click here.
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