Kelly Miller Smith, Sr. was a Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

 preacher, author, and prominent activist in the American Civil Rights Movement

African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)

The African-American Civil Rights Movement refers to the movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights to them. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1955 and 1968, particularly in the South...

.

Smith was born and raised in the all-black community of Mound Bayou, Mississippi

Mound Bayou, Mississippi

Mound Bayou is a city in Bolivar County, Mississippi. The population was 2,102 at the 2000 census. It is notable for having been founded as an independent black community in 1887 by former slaves led by Isaiah Montgomery. By percentage, its 98.4 percent African-American majority population is one...

. He attended Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State College (later Tennessee State University

Tennessee State University

Tennessee State University is a land-grant university located in Nashville, Tennessee. TSU is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennessee.-History:...

) from 1938 to 1940, but graduated from Morehouse College

Morehouse College

Morehouse College is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Wabash College, Morehouse is one of three remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States....

 in Atlanta in 1942 with a double major in music and religion. He later received a Bachelor of Divinity degree (now known as a Master of Divinity

Master of Divinity

In the academic study of theology, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America...

 degree) from Howard University

Howard University

Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...

 School of Religion in 1945.

Smith moved to Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 in 1951 where he became pastor of First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill, a post he would retain until his death in 1984. He became president of the Nashville NAACP in 1956 and founded the Nashville Christian Leadership Council (NCLC) in 1958. Through the NCLC, Smith helped to organize and support the local student sit-in movement

Nashville sit-ins

The Nashville sit-ins, which lasted from February 13 to May 10, 1960, were part of a nonviolent direct action campaign to end racial segregation at lunch counters in downtown Nashville, Tennessee...

—a movement which would successfully end racial segregation at lunch counters in Nashville.

In 1969, Smith became assistant dean of the Vanderbilt University Divinity School and after his death Vanderbilt named The Kelly Miller Smith Institute on the Black Church in memory of him.
Smith was married to Alice Clark Smith and had four children, Joy Ardelia Smith Wright, Adena Modesta Smith Wright, Valerie Lin Smith Robinson, Kelly Miller Smith Jr., and a foster daughter Dorothy Jean Springfield.

The Kelly Miller Smith Memorial Bridge in Nashville is named after Smith.