Geneva smitherman biography of williams

Geneva Smitherman is a University Distinguished Professor Emerita of English and co-founder of the African American and African Studies doctoral program at Michigan State University.^[1][2] Smitherman co-founded the first public African-centered elementary school in the country Malcolm X Academy within the Detroit Public Schools.^[3] She is also known as "Dr.

G" and "Dr. Smitherman".^[2]

Biography

The oldest of seven children in Brownsville, Tennessee, Smitherman started her education in a one-room schoolhouse.^[2] Her family moved from the rural south to the urban north as part of the Great African American migration, first living in Chicago for a few years and then moving to Detroit.^[2] She studied at and graduated from Detroit's Cass Technical High School^[3] and earned a B.A.

and M.A. in English and Latin from Wayne State University and a PhD in English, with a specialization in socioling