Anthony M. Smith (Lee Pellegrini)
Hometown: Waltham, Mass.
Majors: History, African and African Diaspora Studies
Notable Activities/Achievements: Recipient of the 2018 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Scholarship; co-founder of the First Generation Club, an organization for first-generation college students; Jamaica Magis service trip; AHANA Leadership Council; Dedicated Intellectuals of the People; site director for Let’s Get Ready, an SAT preparation program for area high school students.
Post-Graduation Plans: Smith will earn his master’s degree through the Lynch School of Education and Human Development Donovan Urban Teaching Scholars Program and teach in Boston Public Schools; eventually, he will pursue a doctorate in higher education.
The son of Haitian immigrants, Anthony M. Smith grew up in a household where education was a priority. Now, Smith has made education the focus of his post-graduate journey.
In retrospect, what impact did winning the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship have on you?
At first, I had the feeling of the “imposter syndrome”: How could they have selected me? When I went through past MLK winners, I saw some very visible leaders, and I didn’t fit that profile. A lot of the work I’ve done is academic. But as I looked more, I realized that the most important thing about winning the scholarship is following your interest, whether art, politics, business, management, or leadership and activism. When you follow the things you love and are passionate about, they can manifest your leadership and activism. Stick to it, follow it, love it.
You’ve spoken about having had a difficult time early on at BC. What got you through it?
It was an accumulation of things. I didn’t feel prepared academically, socially, or emotionally. What I came to understand was that I had to put in what I wanted to get out of my BC experience. So after freshman year I discovered myself in multi-faceted ways.
Mentorship was a large part of that discovery. I credit History Department faculty members like [Associate Professor] Cynthia Lynn Lyerly, with whom I talked about my experience as a black student; she let me know that I belonged here.
That led to one of my proudest achievements at BC: producing my seniors honor thesis examining sexual violence during slavery and KKK violence during Reconstruction.
[Associate Professor] Martin Summers encouraged me to take myself seriously, which built my confidence; collaborating and working with him as an Undergraduate Research Fellow, and with my own research project, he normalized the process of writing and research for me—he basically said, “There’s room for you here.”
Finding a community in which I can feel comfortable but also challenged has been a huge aspect of my time at BC.
You had considered going for a law degree after graduating BC. What changed?
I had some experiences that made me rethink my career path, like working in the Suffolk House of Corrections as a teacher’s assistant, where I was in front of a classroom of people who had never had a teacher who looked like me. Through the McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, I was able to contextualize these experiences by doing research on the underrepresentation of black men in higher education. Being in McNair made the idea of getting a PhD real for me, and built up my confidence. I began to question why I wanted to go to law school.
It wasn’t an easy decision; I felt like I was giving up on a dream. But I accepted that this dream had blossomed into something that would enable me to make more of a meaningful impact.
What I’ve come to believe is that education is truly interventional; it can make a critical difference in someone’s life, especially a person of color from a low-income background. There need to be more people of color in higher education, as teachers not just as students, to drive home the point that we belong.
What things about BC—people, places, activities—will you miss most?
My experiences have been grounded in moments and lessons. One of my favorite places to spend time has been the African and African Diaspora Studies office. I know I’ll be safe there, and always welcome. It’s a hub to interact with faculty and other students, a lot of love and friendly conversation, and it’s where I can go to do work but also decompress.
I’ll miss being challenged—intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually—although the challenge will continue with life. But if I looked for challenge at BC I could find it, not only in the classroom but at events like SLAM poetry. I always see myself through the work I do, and being able to do that in different ways, especially through my peers, brought me peace.
I will miss the privilege of mentorship and storytelling. That is what also got me through BC, being able to be a mentor and be mentored. Speaking at an AHANA Summit organized by BC’s First Year Experience program, sharing my story with my peers and being vulnerable about some of my times here—good or bad—was a very humbling experience.
That’s what BC is all about: encouraging you to be vulnerable, open, and candid. It may not be fun all the time, but that’s how you grow, and learn from others.
Sean Smith | University Communications | May 2019