ore than 20 years ago my father asked me to please make sure that the autobiography, which he was working on, got published. He died with the manuscript about half finished.

In the intervening time, I did not have the resources to accomplish the task.

In June 1998 that changed. I enrolled in a Certificate Program in Internet Design and Technology at San Francisco State University's Multimedia Studies Program. With the encouragement and support of fellow students, faculty, and advising-department staff members, I was able to design this site. By so doing, I satisfied my portfolio requirement for graduation and fulfilled my father's request.

I am especially thankful for the help of my project mentors, MD Dundon and Eric Ranelletti. Without their guidance I would not have been able to complete the project.

My father had many of his papers and photographs archived at the Moorland - Spingarn Research Center at Howard University, in Washington, D.C.

Curator of Manuscripts Joellen ElBashir and her staff were of great help in assisting me with the research I did there in late August 1999.

The New Haven Register allowed me access to their clipping files in early September, 1999. Thanks to Managing Editor Mark Brackenberry, Editor of Electronic Publishing Mike Jones, and Librarians Angel Diggs and Wil Mesing for their assistance. Special thanks to Staff Reporter Angela Carter, who interviewed me for an article about the site that appeared in the Sunday Life/Styles section of both the regular and online issues of the newspaper.

Long-time Dixwell Community Leaders Ed Grant and Charles Twyman helped fill in some of the knowledge gaps about my father's community activites in the Dixwell Neighborhood.

Finally, I would like to thank all Smith Family Members for providing me with family background and for their interest and enthusiasm in the project.

Our family meeting in New Jersey in late August, 1999, was a source of great information and inspiration. Many thanks to my Aunts Sylvia, Grace and Doris for providing memories and photographs that were invaluable. There in spirit, though not in person, was my late Aunt Carolyn, whose efforts, over the years, have kept us a close-knit family.

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