WMNF Sunday Forum host, Walter Smith, II and his family were honored to participate in a ceremony today to rename a portion of N. Albany Avenue in honor of his father, Dr. Walter L. Smith. Dr. Smith is a Tampa native and former president of Florida A&M University (FAMU).
An international educator, Dr. Smith promoted education and liberty first in the United States then in South Africa. In the United States, the 16 year old high school dropout, eventually went on to earn two degrees at FAMU, a BA in biology and chemistry then a Master of Education.
In 1965, he became a program officer facilitating the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Title I of the 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act for the U.S. Office of Education. Smith also helped to develop desegregation and graduate education training centers for African American administrators at the University of Miami and the Desegregation Center at FAMU.
Smith was the first Assistant Executive Director of the Florida Education Association. For his work, he received a full scholarship by the African American Institute of African Studies to Study abroad. He studied at universities in Ghana, Togo, Dahomey (Benin), and Nigeria. He received his doctorate in 1972 from Florida State University.
Following his role at FAMU, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Malawi, 1985-86. In 1993, Smith was asked to go to South Africa to develop South Africa’s first American-style two year college and became its founding president.
In 2002, Smith opened the Dr. Walter L. Smith Library in West Tampa. The library-museum is dedicated to promoting education in his hometown.
The street now bearing his name, Dr. Walter L. Smith Avenue, is in front of the library. Local dignitaries attended the ceremony, including Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera, Tampa City Councilwoman Gwendolyn Henderson, Tampa City Councilman Guido Maniscalco, and Tampa City Councilman Alan Clendinin.
Congratulations to Walter and his family for being part of this honor.
