Spring 2022
A View From the Mountain a newsletter from the Lillian E. Smith Center
This Issue 1 Historical Marker 3 LES Center Recieves CLIR Grant 4 Residency Awards
On April 20, 2022, the Lillian E. Smith Center unveiled a historical marker honoring Smith’s life, work, and legacy. Dr. Keri Leigh Merritt was the scheduled speaker; however, due to an illness, she could not attend in person. Our director, Dr. Matthew Teutsch, read her remarks at the ceremony. Below, you can read her speech for the unveiling of the historical marker.
History Marker Honoring Lillian E. Smith – Remarks by Dr. Keri Leigh Merritt
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hank you all so much for joining us today on this special occasion honoring one of Georgia’s most important — but unsung heroes. I am so happy that today rights the wrongs of the past in finally giving Lillian Smith the respect and admiration she so deeply deserves. In March of 2020, the city of Decatur, Georgia, commemorated the 1960 arrest of Martin Luther King, Jr., for driving with an expired license near Emory University in Atlanta. Just a few months later, that event would lead to King’s sentencing to hard labor following a subsequent arrest for a sit-in at a lunch counter in Atlanta, as well as an intervention by President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Many historians consider this singular event a major turning point in the Civil Rights Movement.[1] Yet one incredibly important part of the story was completely left off of the shiny new plaque in Decatur, just as it has been removed from much of our history. There was a reason the police officer had pulled King over in the first place, and it had nothing to do with traffic laws.
Planned Giving
Planned gifts are a perfect way to provide fellowships for artists-in-residence at the Center or scholarship funds for students enrolled in the Lillian E. Smith Scholars Program at Piedmont University. FOR MORE INFORMATION piedmont.edu/endowment-planned-giving Mark Elam melam@piedmont.edu | 706-894-4214 DIRECTOR OF LILLIAN E. SMITH CENTER Dr. Matthew Teutsch mteutsch@piedmont.edu | 706-894-4204
LES ADVISORY BOARD James F. Mellichamp, Chair Nannette Curran Nancy Smith Fichter Margaret Rose Gladney Sue Ellen Lovejoy Susan Montgomery Tommye Scanlin John Siegel Stewart Smith W. Austin Smith John H. Templeton Bill Tribby
King had been driving with a white woman in his car. Her name was Lillian E. Smith, and she was a vocal antiracist and zealous integrationist. King and his wife, Coretta, had just finished lunch with Smith and were driving her to her cancer treatment at Emory hospital. When the officer pulled them over, he immediately recognized Smith as the “racial troublemaker” from the North Georgia mountains, and proceeded to arrest King on trumped-up charges of an expired tag. So why was Lillian Smith effectively erased from a story that would have added texture and nuance to the narrative of antiracism in the South? Quite simply, Lillian Smith — as well as her immense body of work — had been expunged from the historical record for political reasons. She was erased because she shattered every stereotype, disrupting the accepted narrative about both the South and race relations. As an antiracist white woman fighting to end segregation in rural Jim Crow Georgia, a best-selling author whose books were censored, burned, and even banned in multiple cities across America, and a lesbian who lived with her lifelong partner Paula Snelling, Smith was erased from history because she posed — and still poses — a threat to prevailing hierarchy and power structure. But Lillian Smith, and her ideas, undoubtedly deserve to be known by every American. Her essays should be required reading in classrooms; entire college courses should be devoted to her written work and activism. From Martin Luther King and the head of the NAACP Walter White to the President and First Lady of Morehouse, Benjamin & Sadie Mays, to activists such as A. Phillip Randolph, Paul and Eslanda Robeson, Alice Walker, and Mary McLeod Bethune, Smith not only offered support to Black activists and worked with them to change things, she also genuinely forged friendships with them. She helped a young Pauli Murray apply for and secure a Rosenwald Fellowship in 1944. Twenty years later, Smith was listed as the only woman on “The Whites ‘Most Trusted’ by Negroes” poll conducted by US News & World Report, along with Chief Justice Earl
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Warren, Robert Kennedy, and President Lyndon Johnson. Among whites — even self-proclaimed racial “liberals” — Smith had quite a reputation as domineering and uncompromising on questions of racial equality and integration, even as early as the 1930s. She was constantly pushing more moderate whites to the left, especially seen in her decade of work on the advisory committee of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality). As Ralph McGill, editor of the Atlanta Constitution, scathingly wrote in 1955 about Lillian Smith’s uncompromising stance regarding immediate integration, “In many respects Miss Lillian Smith is a modern, feminine counterpart of the ancient Hebrew prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah who came, hot-eyed and accusing out of the deserts, to stand in the marketplaces of their cities crying, “Woe unto ye who are unrepentant and of little faith,” thereby causing many citizens to be sore annoyed and afraid.”[2] But white “moderate” and racist white southerners will not be the ones who get to define Smith’s legacy; instead, she will now be remembered with her own shiny history plaque, celebrating her life’s work — not only as a pioneering antiracist, but also as a wonderful and provocative writer. In fact, Smith mastered multiple genres: articles, short stories, novels, novellas, reviews, and op-eds. She was truly a renaissance woman, continuing to learn and hone her craft throughout her entire life. Her bevy of fans even included First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Lillian Smith also held interracial lunches, dinners, and invited African Americans to stay at her home — right here where you’re standing — overnight. Both her writings and her actions left her liable to be lynched. And although she was never physically attacked, she was the victim of repeated vandalism and theft, and even a terrible arson by two white boys that destroyed not only her home, but countless irreplaceable letters, photographs, notes, chapters, and even entire manuscripts. Smith also spent much of her later life struggling with metastatic breast cancer (the eventual cause of her early death),
depressing her greatly because there were times she was not well enough to devote herself to writing and speaking out about racial injustice. Smith showed the sins of the South, and of America writ large, but she held on to hope, and showed a path forward. She scolded and preached, but also welcomed back sinners with open arms and a forgiving heart. The key to peace, Lillian Smith argued, was giving something back to white supremacists whose selfimages are shattered by modernity and progress: “when a man gives up something, even old defenses, he is not going to feel good unless he has something equal, or better, returned to him,” she so aptly wrote. “We must give our people new beliefs, new images of themselves to substitute for the old.”[3] *** New beliefs, new images of themselves. It sounds like a recipe to heal society, even today. As Lillian Smith so perfectly wrote in a Foreword to an early edition of Killers of the Dream, “This book is addressed to men and women who are concerned with the continued existence of an earth trembling between past and future. Hard, bitter facts of life are discussed in it that neither children nor fools can be nourished on. I have written as plainly as one talks to one’s family in crisis.” That family, of course, was — and still is — white America. And we are still deeply in crisis, perhaps more so than at any other time in my life on this earth. Put simply, as Lillian Smith preached for so long, white Americans need to face our pasts, deal with the inequities of the present, and start living as antiracists, just as Smith did.
LES Center Receives Grant to Digitize Records
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n the fall of 2020, we discovered boxes of recordings from the late 1930s through about the mid-1960s. This spring, the LES Center received a $26,278 grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources to digitize and make available these recordings. The recordings contain everything from Lillian Smith and Paula Snelling reading excerpts from their works to plays that campers at Laurel Falls performed to recordings of Smith and Snelling’s travels as part of the Julius Rosenwald Fund during the 1930s and 1940s. While we know what some of the recordings contain because some are labeled, and we did a small pilot program, we do not totally know what we will find on them. However, as Director Dr. Matthew Teutsch notes, “The recordings will provide a clearer picture of Lillian E. Smith, notably her work as director of Laurel Falls Camp for Girls, and the issues she was grappling with during a formative time in her life.” The digitization process will take a year to complete, and when done, the recordings will be available to the public. Stay tuned to our social media accounts for updates and snippets of what we discover on these recordings.
Let this honor today — this history marker which will forever keep Lillian Smith’s name and her important mission alive — both guide and inspire us. Let it remind us of the important work done by so many Georgians to create an equitable, peaceful, and loving society, and let it urge us to take up the work of antiracism. Let us do this in remembrance of Lillian, a fearless pioneer, a truth-revealing writer, and a wonderful human being committed to justice and equality. Thank you. [1] J.D . Capeluto, “Hidden History: Decatur students shed light on
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My Kinswoman, Lillian E. Smith – Dr. Doris Davenport
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Based on my own experiences, I know that art, specifically written and performance art, is a catalyst for change. Most of my life has been dedicated to arts and writing-related work in the public interest. Whether teaching composition and literature at HBCUs or creating poetry about my Affrilachian (Appalachian African American) communities, I had a sense of “serving” a greater good. My life and life’s work are grounded in this area called Northeast Georgia.
Subsequently, I was born in Gainesville in 1949, the year that Lillian Smith published Killers of the Dream, and in my early 20s, I read and incorporated insights from that book. (I still own a 1971 edition of Killers.) I remain amazed and inspired that Lillian Smith, a white person, would speak and write these truths publicly. Her writing confirms that institutionalized white-male supremacy is an insane system – not “privilege” but “pathology.” While I often must address that pathology, my writing steadily asserts and confirms the rich, autonomous cultures of African Americans. I have always written “in service” of these two frequently obscured, distorted, or denied truths.
Both of my maternal grandparents were born and raised in Rabun and Habersham counties. Several other relatives were born and raised in Clayton, Georgia – also Lillian Smith’s home. My grandfather (Daddy John) loved these mountains so much, he “could just eat them” according to his sister, Great-Aunt Fannie Mae, and I inherited that love. Then too, my mother and her 10 siblings were born and raised in Habersham County; my father’s family was from Atlanta and Gainesville, Georgia.
Maybe there is something about the spirituality of these foothills, but it seems so timely and right that Smith, as a teacher and resident-writer in Clayton, has a legacy that benefits me, also a writer and educator. Currently, I have several major writing projects and I plan to start on at least two of them during this residency. I am totally overjoyed and grateful for the Lillian E. Smith Writer-in-Service Award 2022 and the renewal of energy and discipline that it will provide.
r. Doris Davenport is the 2022 recipient of the Lillian E. Smith Writer-in-Service Award. This award is sponsored annually by a generous gift by Sue Ellen Lovejoy, a member of the LES Center Advisory Board. This award provides an opportunity for those writers who, like Lillian E. Smith, recognize “the power of the arts to transform the lives of all human beings.” Recipients receive an honorarium, travel allowance, and a two-week residency at the Center.
Gabriele Stauf Residency Award
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r. Mae Claxton is the 2022 recipient of the Gabriele Stauf Residency Award. Claxton is a Professor of English at Western Carolina University. Claxton’s research explores 20th c. Appalachian women who could be considered activist writers: Fielding Burke (Olive Tilford Dargan), Grace Lumpkin, Wilma Dykeman, and Lillian Smith. Each of these writers merits more
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scholarly attention as their work draws attention to important contemporary issues that continue to resonate today. Writing within the constraints all women faced, these writers told stories that challenged their readers to question contemporary society. On receiving the award, Claxton said, “I am so grateful to receive this award which
will allow me time and space to read, research, and write in such a beautiful place. I hope to initiate new conversations about Smith as an Appalachian writer with links to activist writers such as Wilma Dykeman, Grace Lumpkin, and Olive Tilford Dargan.”
educator who is working on a project that would benefit from a residency. Gabriele Stauf, Professor Ermerita of English at Georgia Southwestern State University, sponsors this annual award because she understands the value of time and solitude required for creative pursuits.
The Gabriele Stauf Residency Award provides a complimentary two-week retreat at the Center for an
McClure-Scanlin Visual Artist Residency Award
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auren Woods is the recipient of the 2022 McClureScanlin Visual Artist Residency Award. Woods is an artist whose practice and creative research explore the concept of mythic time. Artworks become a space to examine notions of nostalgia, desire, power, beauty, death, and embodied expression. Personal myth is developed visually across various mediums such as painting, video, and dance performances. On receiving the award, Woods said, “I am honored to be the recipient of the 2022 McClure-Scanlin Award. Lillian E. Smith’s legacy of activism is inspiring. As an art educator, I am developing a figure drawing curriculum that has a basis in classical techniques
of observational drawing while considering diversity and inclusion through new teaching materials from contemporary figurative artists. “While at the LES Center, I intend to connect with the landscape through walks, gathering memories and images through photography and sketching on-site. With this, I would like to paint studies that would contribute to my ongoing body of work with a refreshed perspective from a new location and experiences of natural lighting effects, atmospheres, and plant life. The forest will also become a setting for video works expanding on themes and variations of circle dances.” The McClure-Scanlin Award is made possible through a generous gift to Piedmont University from Tommye Scanlin and her husband, Thomas. Tommye is a member of the LES Center Advisory Board and a longtime LES Center Fellow. The award recipient is selected in consultation with faculty members of the Piedmont Department of Art and receives a complimentary two-week residency at the Center. You can see some of Woods’ work here: https:// laurenwoodsart.com/
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DONATIONS
Emily Pierce Graduate Student Residency Award
Laurel Circle $1,000+ Andrew Bridges and Rebecca Lyman Christopher and Nanette Curran Bettina B. George Georgia Power Company Dr. Margaret Rose Gladney Susan Montgomery Dr. Gabriele U. Stauf John Siegel and John Templeton Dr. Matthew and Melissa Teutsch William L. Tribby Betsey Withington Write To Change, Inc.
Savannah Rain Geidel is the recipient of the 2022 Emily Pierce Graduate Student Residency Award. Geidel is an English educator with an MA from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a BA in Secondary English Education from SUNY New Paltz. She is dedicated to building learning communities focused on multiple knowledges and integrating social justice into the classroom. Her research focuses on speculative fiction and portrayals of the Anthropocene to explore how authors raise awareness of slow violence and environmental racism.
Benefactor $500+ Christopher M. Burnside Dr. Patricia Bell-Scott Dr. Jane McPherson and Jon Jefferson Rev. Richard and Katherine Miller-Todd Dr. Marilynn Richtarik and Matt Bloch Tommye Scanlin Ann P. Suich Promoter $200+ Dr. Edward and Alice Ariail Ashley M. Cleere Mary Anne Hoffman Ann H. Smith Mary Walker
One receiving the award, Geidel said, “I am incredibly grateful to receive the Emily Pierce Graduate Student Residency award. I am looking forward to reading and writing surrounded by such a beautiful environment. This opportunity will allow me to continue developing my work on positioning literature as social and environmental activism, and I am excited to see where my time at Piedmont takes me.”
Sponsor $50+ Dean and Linda Copeland William C. Crane Ann Darby Nancy Koeppel Glenn Newsome Dr. Lillian Reeves Dolly A. Ritchie Rebekah Saxanoff Kyes Stevens Audrey Straight Martin Kavka and Philip Y. Tomberlin Wanda White
Named after one of the first Lillian E. Smith Scholars, the Emily Pierce Graduate Residency provides opportunities for graduate students whose works move us toward a more equitable society. It includes a complimentary two-week retreat at the Center and an honorarium.
Patron $1+ Foster Dickson Tianashan L. Thomaswick Tracie Rogers
IN HONOR OF
*The following gifts were made to honor someone.
Dr. Nancy and Robert Fichter Lynda J. Davis Beverly B. Frick Dennise M. Hewlett Patricia K. Knowles Sherrill W. Ragans Patsy Palmer Dennis Price Carol Wood Jane Penland Hoover Patricia Bell-Scott
Margaret Peggy McIntosh Dr. Patricia Bell-Scott Nancy Graham and Donna McGinty Patricia Bell-Scott Dr. Barbara Brown Taylor Cathy Callaway Adams Dr. Sherill Williams Ragan Cathy Callaway Adams
MEMORIAL
*The following gifts were made in memory of a loved one or friend.
Annie Laurie Smith Peeler Thomas Templeton Carol Wood Paula Snelling Dr. Margaret Rose Gladney Dr. Nancy Smith and Robert Fichter Lillian E. Smith Tom Callahan Annie Laurie Smith Peeler Thomas M. Templeton
piedmont.edu/lillian-smith-center P.O. Box 10 | Demorest, GA 30535 706-894-4204