A01339 - Jessie Carney Smith, Chronicler of African American History

Jessie Carney Smith (b. September 24, 1930, Greensboro, North Carolina) was an American librarian and educator, formerly Dean of the Fisk University Library and the Camille Cosby Distinguished Chair in the Humanities. She was the first African American to earn a doctorate degree in library science from the University of Illinois. She is also a scholar and author of research guides and reference books focusing on notable African American people. 

Jessie Carney Smith was born on September 24, 1930, in Greensboro, North Carolina,  to James Ampler and Vesona Bigelow Carney. Smith attended James B. Dudley High School in Greensboro.\ She graduated from North Caroliona A&T State University with her Bachelor of Science degree in home economics in 1950. Smith received her Master of Arts degree in child development from Michigan State University in 1956, and her Master of Arts in Library Sciences (M.A.L.S.) degree from the George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. She served as consultant to the United States Office for Civil Rights, the United States Office of Education, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. She was awarded Fisk University's Camille Cosby Distinguished Chair in the Humanities in 1992.

Smith published numerous research guides and reference books, specifically exploring the gaps in scholarship around African-Americans. She published three separate volumes of Notable Black American Women (in 1991, 1996, and 2003) and two separate volumes of Notable Black American Men (in 1999 and 2006). Her other books include Black Heroes of the Twentieth Century, Freedom Facts and Firsts: 400 Years of the African American Civil Rights Experience, and Black Firsts: 4000 Groundbreaking and Pioneering Historical Events, among others.

Smith is best known for her work as an African-American studies scholar and has received a number of awards for her work in libraries and as an author. She was awarded the Martin Luther King Black Authors Award in 1982 and the Women's Book Association Award in 1992. She received the Candace Award for excellence in education in 1992, and distinguished alumni awards from both the Peabody College of Vanderbilt University and the University of Illinois.   Smith was named the Academic/Research Librarian of the Year from the Association of College and Research Libraries in 1985, and in 1997 Smith received the key to the city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  In 2020, upon her retirement, Smith was granted the title of Librarian Emerita by Fisk University.