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No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Girtus Smith Papers #05807-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Ezell Gerod Smith in Fall 2015 (Acc. 103762).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

This finding aid compiles archival collecting, description, and preservation work performed by Nancy Kaiser, Rebecca Stubbs, Chaitra Powell, and Karida Brown, March 2020

Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, March 2020

Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, September 2021

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• African American police.
• African Americans—Social life and customs.
• Church of God.
• Coal mines and mining—Kentucky—Harlan County.
• Harlan County (Ky.)
• Jefferson County (Ky.)
• Kentucky--Social life and customs.
• Kenvir (Ky.)
• Louisville (Ky.)
• Mountain life--Kentucky--Harlan County--History--20th century.
• Smith, Ezell, 1953-
• Smith, Girtus (1906-1996)

• #5585 Eastern Kentucky African American Migration Project (EKAAMP)

Girtus "Shorty" Smith (1906-1996) was an African American coal miner from Harlan County, Ky. Smith was believed to have been ill with Polio, resulting in his short stature and bowed legs. Smith had one son. His nephew and the donor of this collection, Ezell Gerod Smith, cared for Girtus Smith in his later years. Ezell Smith described his uncle as "very intelligent, well dressed, and took a lot of pictures. He was religious, and they both went to the same church in Harlan."

Ezell Smith (1953-) attended Lynch primary and secondary schools. After Ezell graduated from high school, he worked in the coal mines for U.S. Steel. After about 10 years in the mines, he sustained a major injury and after he recovered, he found work with an engineering company. After a short time, he left to begin his career as a police officer and then as a correctional officer in Louisville, Ky. Ezell later worked as a supervisor for the sewer district and as a distribution officer for a local newspaper. He also held positions with various security, cleaning, and landscaping companies. Ezell has a set of twins, LeZell and LaZell, and a daughter named Alise.

Both Girtus and Ezell are examples of the lived experiences of the diasporic African American coal mining communities emanating from Lynch, Kentucky and described in the Eastern Kentucky African American Migration Project (EKAAMP).

This biographical note was compiled from notes from a conversation between Ezell Smith, the donor of the collection, and Karida Brown, the collecting archivist.

The collection of Girtus Smith, an African American coal miner from Harlan County, Ky., consists of financial records and statements; letters and greeting cards from family and friends to Girtus Smith; honors, awards, and recognition certificates for his nephew Ezell Smith; meeting minutes for the Annual Assembly of the Church of God; and black-and-white photographic negatives depicting the Smith family and friends during the 1930s to 1950s.

• Photographs (PF-05807/1-2)