The first elected African-American woman to public office in San Diego County, Dorothy L.W. Smith, had passed away on Wednesday at the age of 82.
She was known for her efforts in improving education and was the first Black woman to serve on the San Diego Unified School Board in 1981.
Born in Capleville, Tennessee in 1939. Smith attended a segregated school for Black students in Martin, a small town located on the Tennessee side of the Tennessee-Kentucky border.
She was valedictorian of her high school class and attended the all-Black Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she met her husband Carl.
They moved to Cleveland where she graduated from Case Western Reserve University with a bachelor’s degree in English and began her education career as a high school teacher. In 1969, the couple moved to California.
Smith taught at Long Beach City College, then Grossmont Community College, San Diego City College, where she taught English and African-American literature for 24 years and was a lecturer at San Diego State University.
One of the courses she designed was “Black Women in Literature and the Media,” which has now been taught in the San Diego Community College District for over 45 years.
In 1981, Smith was appointed, then elected to the San Diego Unified School Board, where she served until 1988 and represented southeastern San Diego.
She had served on the school board for about eight years and was elected president twice, where she introduced policies to improve academic offerings and promoted equity. Smith trained and mentored teachers.
Among her achievements, Smith was also one of the first members and presidents of the San Diego Ethics Commission and was involved in the Catfish Club civic organization.
Smith was one of five women to be indicted to the San Diego Women’s Hall of Fame in March 2019 in the Trailblazer category. Smith pushed to improve high school courses, the quality of instruction, and the curriculum at San Diego Unified.
