Marzell Wilbert Smith was born January 27, 1922, in El Dorado, Union County, Arkansas.
Smith earned a B.S. in English from AM&N and then went on to graduate with a master's degree from the University of Arkansas in 1948. She also undertook advanced studies at the University and at UCLA.
Smith taught in public schools in Warren and Lake Village, Arkansas. In 1953 she returned to El Dorado and taught there until her retirement from teaching in 1983. Smith founded the South Arkansas African American Historical Society in 1999 and the South Arkansas African American Museum in 2003, where she also served as curator.
Marzell Wilbert Smith passed away on December 31, 2013.
#1: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Marzell Wilbert Smith at the Newton House Museum; El Dorado, Arkansas, 2009
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#2: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Marzell Wilbert Smith at the Newton House Museum; El Dorado, Arkansas, 2009
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#3: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Marzell Wilbert Smith at the Newton House Museum; El Dorado, Arkansas, 2009
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#4: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Marzell Wilbert Smith at the Newton House Museum; El Dorado, Arkansas, 2009
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
