Mattie L. Smith

About Mattie

Mattie L. Smith was born in Spartanburg, SC in 1933 to an American Negro Man and an Indigenous Woman of the Cherokee Nation.  She was the Beloved Mother of six and the Grandmother, and Great Grandmother to many.  She moved to Providence, RI during the Civil Rights Era in the 1960’s.  In the early 1980’s, Mattie became a member of the Community based organization called WAGE (Worker’s Association for Guaranteed Employment).  The organization was founded on the social issues that were prevalent in the inner city at the time: unemployment/underemployment, homelessness, disconnection of utilities and feeding and clothing children in the community among other things.  

After organizing with WAGE for several years, Mattie and several other people from the community founded DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality) which tackled many of the same social issues that WAGE did, but added many more organizing campaigns, namely the Parks Action.  Mattie was tired of the children in the neighborhood not having a safe place to play, due to the park being overrun by unfortunate neighborhood activities, being run down and unsafe by having broken playground equipment.

She led several marches of many of the neighborhood children and parents down to city hall and demanded safe spaces for the children to play and that meant renovating not just the park where her grandchildren played, but for every tot lot/playground in the city.  She was responsible for the first tennis court being installed in a playground in the heart of South Providence.  She wanted the children to expand their horizons outside of basketball.  Mattie continued to organize with DARE until the late 1990’s when she retired from the front line of Grassroots Organizing and spent her final days in Providence.  On June 12, 2023, just 8 days after her 90th birthday, Mattie passed away, leaving a remarkable legacy for her descendants.