Smith, Robert Lloyd, 1861-1942.

Robert Lloyd Smith, founder of the Farmers Improvement Society, was one of the leading African-American educators and public figures in Texas during the late 1800s to the mid-1900s. Both of his wives, one of whom passed away early in his stay in Texas, assisted him in his many political and educational pursuits, until his death in 1942. For over fifty years, Robert Smith poured his energy and passion into this society as a way of helping sharecropping African-Americans improve their lives.

Smith was born in 1861 to free African-American parents in Charleston, South Carolina. From early in life, he received a very unusual amount of schooling, first at Avery Normal Institute, then at the University of South Carolina in mathematics and English, and finally at Atlanta University in teaching. After teaching in public schools from 1880 to 1885 in Georgia and South Carolina, Robert Smith came to Oakland, Texas, with his wife Francis Isabella.

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