CLASSROOM IN THE THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY

Working tirelessly in several organizations and institutions, by the fall of 1888, a persistent cough curtailed Smith’s activities. She rejected all the advice from friends and associates who insisted she take a break and rest. Several doctors began to attend to her but were unable to find the source of her illness. She gradually began to accept that she was incurable and requested that Simmons preach at her funeral. Her condition was diagnosed as terminal and she finally consented to her mother’s suggestion that she spend her final days in Lexington.

During her productive life, Smith held a number of significant memberships in organizations and journals, most notably the Afro-American Press Convention. Consistent with many facts about her life, there is no agreement about the year of her death, which has been cited as 1889 or 1891, nor is there any further indication of what she did in those later years. Not much was probably available anyway, since she was still a very young woman—probably only in her late 20s—when she died.

Feb. 26, 1928: Antoine Dominique “Fats” Domino born in New Orleans. He died in 2017.

Feb. 26, 1971: Vocalist Erykah Badu (Erica Abi Wright) born in South Dallas, Texas.

Feb. 27, 1902: Opera singer Marian Anderson born in Philadelphia. She died in 1993.