Charles Ullman Smith (1926-2015) remembered for activism and university service

On Saturday, members of the FAMU family paid their final respects to Charles Ullman (C.U.) Smith, a longtime member of the university faculty. The funeral service took place at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church with burial at Culley's Meadowwood & Memorial Park.

Smith died on April 20, 2015. He was 91 years old.

“C.U. Smith lived a wonderful life and made a great contribution to Florida A&M,” former FAMU President Frederick Humphries told the Tallahassee Democrat. “His contributions were not only superb in academe, but he helped us frame a great perspective on how we should live together.”

Smith was born in Birmingham, Ala. in 1926. He received his undergraduate education from Tuskegee University and then earned a master’s degree from Fisk University in 1946. FAMU hired him to teach sociology that same year. He left FAMU in 1948 to work on a Ph.D. in sociology at Washington State University, which he earned two years later. Smith then returned to the FAMU faculty in 1950 and remained until his retirement in 1997.

Over the course of his almost 50 years at FAMU, Smith served as a department chairman, director of graduate studies, and dean of graduate studies. He also published a number of books and articles.

Smith was active in the Tallahassee Bus Boycott of 1956 and numerous other local civil rights initiatives.

One notable accomplishment in his long record of FAMU advocacy was leading a group of citizens who persuaded the City Commission to change the name of Canal Street on the university campus to FAMU Way.  FAMU was later extended to meet Monroe Street in 2012 and is undergoing another extension that will take it to Lake Bradford Road.

Smith’s survivors include a daughter, Shauna Y. Smith; one grandson, Robert D. Smith II; one granddaughter, Sejal B. Smith; two great grandchildren, Khyrian Walker and Sejal Y. Leonard.

Dr. Charles U. Smith Scholarship Fund at Suntrust Bank is accepting donations in order to continue its namesake’s passion for helping college students.