[1][2] In 1933, Smith became the first executive secretary of the Dallas Negro Chamber of Commerce, where he spearheaded voter registration drives.

[1][2] He was appointed as the deputy director of the Hall of Negro Life at the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936, and later that year, wed Fannie Fletcher.

[1] That campaign led to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649 (1944), that did away with white primaries nationwide.

[1][2][n 1] Smith also fought against school segregation in a legal campaign that led to Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950), a case that paved the way for Brown v. Board of Education.

[1] He was also a leader in the Texas State Negro Chamber of Commerce, the Texas Council of Negro Organizations, the Dallas Urban League, the Texas State Progressive Voters League, the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, the Rotary Club of Dallas, the Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, the New Hope Baptist Church, and at Bishop College.