Dr. Gerald Smith is a native of Lexington, Kentucky. He serves as an associate minister at Consolidated Baptist Church where he was licensed and ordained to preach the Gospel. He is also an associate professor of African American history and director of the African American Studies and Research Program at the University of Kentucky.

Dr. Smith received his bachelor and masters degrees in American history from UK in 1981 and 1983, respectively. In 1988 he earned his Ph.D. in history from UK with a concentration in urban and African American history.From 1988 until 1993 he was an assistant professor at the University of Memphis. He returned to UK to join the history faculty as a tenured professor in 1993.

Gerald Smith is the author of two books and has written over thirty book reviews, essays, and articles for historical journals and reference books. He has also presented and co-presented his research at several national and regional professional conferences. At present he is co-authoring a book on African Americans in Memphis, Tennessee, and working as a co-editor on volume VI of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University.

Dr. Smith serves on a number of different boards and committees. His awards include selection as a National Faculty Scholar (1997), Outstanding Young Man of America Award, Who's Who Among African Americans, and induction into the Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars of Morehouse College, in Atlanta, Georgia in March 2000.

He is married to the former Teresa Turner. They are the proud parents of two daughters: Elizabeth age 12 and Sarah age 8.