As a result, she attributes her interest in racial justice to the ripple effects of the Civil Rights Movement in her local community.
[2] She put her education on hiatus to teach at an elementary school in Anawalt, West Virginia and volunteer with a chapter of the Black Lung Association.
[4] Thanks to her research on black lung disease and the working conditions in coal mines, Smith gained an interest in studying occupational health and the issues that women workers face.
[2] This work led her to serve as Director of Research and Education at the Southeast Women's Employment Coalition (SWEC) in Lexington, Kentucky for six years.
[2] Smith transferred to Virginia Tech in 2005, where she served as the Women and Gender Studies Program Director and professor of Sociology.
[10] While Barbara Ellen Smith's academic career can be divided into groups regarding Black Lung Movement, women's and gender issues, as well as race, in addition to immigration, her legacy proceeds her.
REJN has initiated a special project in North Carolina that would address these injustices of those who are African American and Latino in the United States.
The goal was to explore how this network could build sustainable relationships in order to challenge racism and thus initiate social change.