Barbara Smith was an interdepartmental major in English and sociology. As a senior, she completed independent work in both subjects. For English, she completed a study of Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, and Amiri Baraka under the guidance of Professor Richard Johnson. Quite interested in social theory, she reviewed sociology and literature under the guidance of Marjorie Childers, then a new instructor at Mount Holyoke by way of The New School in New York City. Smith’s work-study position was in the economics and sociology department (then a joint department) providing clerical work such as mimeographing.
