On this day in Alabama history: William Russell Smith, playwright and politician, was born
William Russell Smith (1815-1896) was a writer, attorney and politician who wrote the first professionally performed play in Alabama and served three terms in the U.S. Congress. He founded the newspaper The Mirror in Tuscaloosa and was the city's mayor in 1839. Smith also was a state representative and a judge of the Seventh Judicial Court. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)
March 27, 1815
William Russell Smith was born on this day in Russellville, Kentucky. After his father died, his mother moved the family to Huntsville and then to Tuscaloosa in 1820. His mother died three years later, and he and four siblings were raised in foster homes. The outstanding student found a sponsor who financed his study at the University of Alabama, where Smith began writing poetry. He left school without graduating and studied law, passing the bar and practicing in Greensboro. After moving to Mobile, Smith established The Bachelor’s Button, the state’s first literary magazine. Smith returned to Tuscaloosa, edited a newspaper and entered politics. He served in the Alabama Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
Portrait of William Russell Smith, 1895. (Wikipedia)
For more on Alabama’s bicentennial, go to Alabama 200.
