Emancipation

"Emancipation is the first truly comprehensive reference book covering the first one hundred years of African Americans in the legal profession. Other legal historians and biographers must take Smith's work as a starting point for gauging the impact Black lawyers and institutions have had upon the evolution of the American legal profession."—Black Issues in Higher Education

"The sheer quantity of information contained in Emancipation is overwhelming; the impact of page after page of data, stories and lives, and the thousands of detailed, extensive footnotes and documentation is simply overpowering. It is a monumental achievement."—Southern University Law Review

"A remarkable piece of scholarship. . . . Emancipation contains a wealth of information previously unknown even to those who consider themselves well-informed about African-American history. . . . It will, I am sure, serve as the definitive authority on the history of black lawyers for years to come."—St. Louis Post-Dispatch