J. Alfred Smith

Smith was born in Kansas City, Missouri to Amy Gates Smith and Clyde Anderson.[3][2] He graduated from Kansas City's R.T. Coles High School in 1948[1] and obtained a license to preach that same year.[2] He married Joanne Goodwin in 1950 and began as a student pastor at Mount Washington Baptist Church in Parkville, Missouri, in 1951.[4]

Smith earned a B.S. degree from Western Baptist College in elementary education in 1952.[2] In 1959, he earned a bachelor's degree in Divinity from the University of Missouri, and in 1966 he earned a master's degree in “Theology, Church, and Community.”[2]

In 1972, he received a master's degree from the American Baptist Seminary in American Church History. In 1975, Smith received a Doctor of Ministry Degree from the Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.[2]

During the 1960s, Smith worked at the American Baptist Convention Staff of Northern California, Bishop College in Dallas, American Baptist Churches USA. He also taught at Laney College, Merritt College, Patton College and Concordia College, all in Oakland, California. Smith was named senior pastor of Oakland, California’s Allen Temple Baptist Church in 1971.

In 1979 he became the first Vice-President of the Progressive Baptist State Convention of California . He was elected president two years later.

In 1984 he became the first Vice-President of Progressive National Baptist Convention, and became president in 1986.[5]

In 1992 he joined the American Baptist Seminary of the West as a professor of Christian Ministries.

He retired from the Allen Temple Baptist Church in 2009 and was succeeded by his son, Rev. James Alfred Smith, Jr.

In 2012, he became the first chair of the Council of Elders for Oblate School of Theology’s Sankofa Institute for African American Pastoral Leadership in San Antonio, Texas.[6]

Smith was named by Ebony Magazine as one of the Most Influential Black Americans for two years consecutively.[2] He was also named Outstanding Citizen of the Year by the Oakland Tribune in 1990. He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Greenling Institute in 2001 and was named Humanitarian of the Year by the East Bay Agency for Children.[1]

Smith was also named a Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Beautiful Are Their Feet Honoree in 2006.[7]

Smith has written an autobiography, On the Jericho Road (2004). He is also the author of several other books including Speak Until Justice Wakes (2006), The Overflowing Heart (1987), and Preach On (1996).[1][2][7]

Smith's first wife, Joanna Goodwin Smith, died in 2007.[2] He later married to Reverend Bernestine Smith.

Smith's son, J. Alfred Smith Jr., now retired, was a Senior Pastor of the Allen Temple Baptist Church.[8]

Allen Temple website