02/02/2024
From the classroom to the community, University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumni have been making their presence felt for 125 years. In commemoration of Black History Month, we will be proudly spotlighting some of our Black alumni who have left their mark after graduation.
There is no better place to start than in 1956, when Christiana Smith became the first African American graduate from then-Southwestern Louisiana Institute, at the age of 40. She was born in Carencro, Louisiana, and developed a profound love of education through her experiences at several Catholic schools, including the Sacred Heart Normal School in Lake Charles, founded by Katherine Drexel, a pioneer in creating educational opportunities for Native and African Americans in the South.
Smith earned a teaching certificate there in 1937.
During a decade of teaching in St. Martin Parish, she was able to earn college credits at both Southern and Xavier universities before enrolling at SLI in 1954. Smith's legacy lives on through an Alumni Chapter. The Christiana Smith African American Alumni Chapter was formally chartered in 1992. What initially started as several friends gathering together for a reunion has become a flourishing chapter of dedicated alumni. The chapter puts on events like Sweet Sounds of Sharing during Homecoming Week, provides engagement opportunities for alumni and awards scholarships every year to African American students.
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