Unearthing the Legacy of Lillian Smith: The Forgotten Southern White Woman Who Fought Jim Crow in the 1930s

Long before the modern civil rights movement captured the national consciousness in the 1950s and 1960s, Lillian Smith was already engaged in a fierce, uncompromising battle against segregation and white supremacy in the American South. A trailblazing white author, editor, and activist, Smith began challenging the oppressive structures of Jim Crow as early as the 1930s. Her bestselling books were met with fierce resistance, leading to censorship, book burnings, and bans across multiple cities in the United States. Yet, despite her profound contributions to American literature and social justice, her name faded from the mainstream historical narrative, leaving generations largely unaware of her pivotal role in the fight for equality.

In a compelling reflection, historian and author Kerri Leigh Smith—writer of An Inconvenient Woman—explores the life and enduring relevance of this remarkable historical figure, whose legacy continues to challenge modern understandings of southern history, civil rights, and progressive activism.

Kerri Leigh Smith’s journey to understanding her historical namesake began during an early autumn visit to Old Screamer Mountain, located in Clayton, Georgia. The scenic ridge had served as Lillian Smith’s home for the majority of her sixty-eight years. Surrounded by the vibrant, transient beauty of autumn leaves shifting into brilliant shades of orange, red, gold, maroon, mustard, and burnt sienna, the historian felt an immediate and profound sense of familiarity. Although she had frequently hiked the trails of the surrounding Appalachian Mountains during previous visits to Clayton, stepping onto Old Screamer Mountain felt like coming home.

In the months of research that followed, the author discovered a striking array of parallels between her own life and that of Lillian Smith. Both women hailed from other Deep South states—Smith from Florida and Kerri Leigh Smith from Mississippi—and both ultimately chose Georgia as their permanent home, despite holding worldviews that placed them at bitter odds with the majority of the state’s white citizenry. They shared formative childhood experiences burdened by complicated, troubled relationships with their mothers, and both were profoundly shaped and educated by extensive travel abroad during their teenage years and young adulthoods.

Furthermore, both women saw their life’s work interrupted by severe illnesses and had to navigate major personal losses along the way. Ideologically, they shared a conviction that dismantling systemic racism required a multifaceted approach combining personal relationships, education, art, psychology, and public policy. Their public speaking careers both originated through civil rights organizations and southern colleges, as well as private organizations in New York. They shared a self-acknowledged intensity—being impatient, morally rigorous, and occasionally intolerant of intolerance—while remaining far more progressive than most white Americans of their respective generations.

Intrigued by the complex woman from Old Screamer Mountain, Kerri Leigh Smith began an exhaustive research process. She quickly discovered an extraordinary profile: a white woman who challenged segregation in the 1930s, a bestselling author whose works were actively suppressed across America, and a lesbian who shared her life and work with her lifelong partner, Paula Snelling. It became increasingly evident that Smith had been systematically marginalized and nearly erased from history because her existence and her writing posed a direct, ongoing threat to the prevailing racial and social hierarchies of the American South.

Yet Smith’s ideas remain profoundly vital for contemporary American society. Her essays and books warrant inclusion in standard educational curricula, and her extensive written output and activism merit dedicated academic study. As the historian’s research evolved into a book-length project, she collaborated closely with Matthew Teutsch, then-Director of the Lillian Smith Center prior to its defunding by Piedmont University. Teutsch worked tirelessly for years to restore Smith’s rightful place in history. Those efforts culminated on April 20, 2022, when the Georgia Historical Society formally dedicated a historical marker recognizing Lillian E. Smith.

The text inscribed on the marker captures the essence of her contributions: “Smith openly challenged Jim Crow and provided a critical White voice on Southern race relations through her writings, including the novel Strange Fruit and memoir Killers of the Dream, and a literary magazine co-edited with her life partner Paula Snelling. Through her involvement with Civil Rights organizations, Smith became friends with Martin Luther King, Jr.”

Significantly, by officially recognizing Paula Snelling as Lillian’s life and intellectual partner, the marker became a rare historical monument in the Deep South—and potentially the only one—to explicitly acknowledge a same-sex relationship. It stands as one of the very few markers in the state of Georgia honoring a woman. Across a regional landscape heavily populated with Civil War monuments, the revolutionary nature of Smith’s plaque is stark. As one of the few women listed alongside thousands of men, one of the few recognized LGBTQ+ figures, and one of the rare white Southerners honored for their dedication to civil rights, the marker breaks traditional molds.

By the time the historical marker was approved, Kerri Leigh Smith had delivered numerous speeches on Smith’s enduring importance, cementing her reputation as an authority on the author’s life. When Dr. Teutsch invited her to deliver the keynote speech at the marker’s dedication ceremony, she realized she needed to prioritize completing An Inconvenient Woman, the first book in forty years to examine Smith’s life, work, and sexuality in comprehensive detail.

In her dedication address, the historian focused on how Smith exposed the profound moral failings of white America while refusing to surrender hope, thereby illuminating a pathway toward true reconciliation. Smith was known to scold and challenge society, yet she consistently welcomed repentant individuals back with an open heart and a forgiving spirit. She argued that achieving genuine peace required constructing new identities for white supremacists whose self-perceptions had been destabilized by social progress and modernity.

As Smith famously wrote, when individuals are asked to surrender familiar defenses, they cannot feel secure unless something equal or better is offered in return. Society must provide people with new beliefs and new self-images to replace outdated dogmas. These insights into human psychology and social change offer enduring lessons for contemporary society. Keeping Lillian Smith’s name and mission alive serves as both a practical guide and a powerful source of inspiration, reminding the public of the demanding, selfless, and occasionally dangerous labor required to build a genuinely equitable, peaceful, and loving community.