{"id":164274,"date":"2026-02-22T00:34:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T00:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/164274\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T00:34:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T00:34:32","slug":"dr-walter-smiths-lasting-global-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/164274\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Walter Smith\u2019s lasting global impact"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014\u00a0This Black History Month<\/a>, the legacy of former\u00a0Florida A&M University\u00a0President Dr. Walter Lee Smith<\/a> is being remembered not only for strengthening one of the nation\u2019s leading HBCUs, but for extending its reach across the African diaspora.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

During Black History Month<\/a>, Tampa\u2019s library honoring Civil Rights activist and FAMU 7th President\u00a0Dr. Walter L. Smith<\/a> lands an $800,000 grant, advancing a legacy that reached from Florida to Africa and Haiti
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Smith led FAMU from 1977 to 1985 \u2014 a period marked by post-Civil Rights era expansion in higher education and political instability in parts of the Caribbean and Africa
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At the invitation of Haitian officials, Smith traveled to Haiti multiple times to assist following a “brain drain” and intellectual exodus during the Duvalier Era
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On Saturday, Feb. 28 at 8 a.m., the Walter Smith Library & Museum will hold its yearly Black History Month event titled “Fish, Grits & Black History<\/a>”<\/p>\n

Dr. Smith led FAMU from 1977 to 1985 \u2014 a period marked by post-Civil Rights era expansion in higher education and political instability in parts of the Caribbean and Africa.<\/p>\n

His son says his father saw education as something far bigger than a degree.<\/p>\n

“Dad internationalized FAMU under his administration,” said Walter L. Smith, Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Building bridges during Haiti\u2019s Duvalier Era<\/p>\n

In the early 1980s, during the presidency of\u00a0Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier, Haiti was facing political repression and an accelerating \u201cbrain drain.\u201d Professionals and university-educated Haitians were leaving the country in large numbers \u2014 many bound for the United States, France, and Canada.<\/p>\n

At the invitation of Haitian officials, Smith traveled to Haiti multiple times.<\/p>\n

His mission: strengthen academic standards and create partnerships that would allow Haitian degrees to be recognized internationally.<\/p>\n

“What that Dad did was help to establish that articulation so that when people who had degrees from those colleges would go to Western Bloc countries, their degree would be of the same caliber or the same validity,” said Smith Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s work came against the backdrop of a dictatorship that began under\u00a0Fran\u00e7ois Duvalier\u00a0and continued under his son. Despite political instability, Haitian officials sought educational infrastructure support.<\/p>\n

“Despite the despotic nature of the government and of the family, they wanted my father to come and help,” said Smith Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smith was often joined by his wife, FAMU\u2019s seventh First Lady, Jeraldine Williams.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been to Port-au-Prince and Cap-Ha\u00eftien,” said Williams.<\/p>\n

She says Smith’s focus was not simply elite university access, but practical, workforce-driven education.<\/p>\n

“High on his (Dr. Walter Smith) list of agenda items was to install two-year schools, two-year colleges,” said Williams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The goal was to create local two-year institutions that could provide credentials, workforce training, and pathways to four-year degrees.<\/p>\n

“So they got a degree, they have a certificate, and so they are qualified to perform at some level rather than not be,” Williams added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Williams says Smith deeply worried about the long-term effects of intellectual migration and “brain drain.”<\/p>\n

“Those who had the brain power would go away, let’s say, from Haiti to the United States, or Haiti to France, or Haiti to England. And then they wouldn’t come back. So that’s a loss. There is an enhancement for them, but it’s a loss for the country,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A home for Haitian students at FAMU<\/p>\n

Some Haitian students did come to Florida, enrolling at FAMU during Smith\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n

Williams says many faced cultural and linguistic barriers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They found opportunity and support.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“(Smith) was trying to deal with those people who were coming in, who probably felt more at a greater distance from success than he did because of the language, because of tradition, because of expectation,” Williams said.<\/p>\n

For Smith, education was about empowerment and nation-building. His work\u00a0extended beyond\u00a0the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Smith also traveled to African nations, part of a\u00a0broader effort by\u00a0historically Black colleges to reconnect with the global Black diaspora\u00a0following\u00a0the Civil Rights movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation was a sign of status and still is,” said Smith Jr. “If you had an education, especially a college education, you are big time. You’re doing something right. And that was the basis of the values, is to what was to create a society that could help them to grow that infrastructure.”<\/p>\n

And to his son, there was never a question about whether the work was worth it.<\/p>\n

“There’s never a time that I’ve ever witnessed my father not think the education of Black people was not worth it. He put it all on the line for more than half of his life,” said Smith Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s lasting global impact on the Black diaspora<\/p>\n

Today, decades after his presidency, the influence of Dr. Walter Lee Smith\u2019s legacy continues to cross borders.<\/p>\n

The Walter Smith Library & Museum<\/a> in Tampa recently received an $800,000 grant from the Tampa Community Redevelopment Agency. On Feb. 28,\u00a0 the library will hold its yearly Black History Month event, titled “Fish, Grits & Black History<\/a>.”
\u00a0<\/p>\n

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