As remembered by Raphael
Cassimere Jr.
August 26, 2026
Tribute to Jerome Smith, Freedom's Friend
I knew Jerome Smith for 70 years. I remember when I first observed this tall handsome athletic young man who was Drum Major of the Joseph S. Clark Senior High School Band. He was a senior, I, a beginning sophomore. I once heard our Spanish teacher exclaim, "He just struts about like a peacock." I don't think we ever spoke at Clark. Perhaps, he exhibited his broad omnipresent smile. For the next years of his life we developed a life-long friendship as a result of our mutual involvement in Civil Rights and community involvement.
Many who knew Jerome early in his life were later surprised by his civil rights involvement. And perhaps they were correct; however his four years at Clark, were probably predicted because in many ways this institution was a laboratory for developing future Civil Rights and community leaders. During its first decade, Clark was New Orleans' lone Black public high school on the downriver side of Canal Street, encompassing Wards 4-9, which was a microcosm of downtown Black New Orleans. Over-crowded and under-funded, it housed more than a thousand students into a school originally built for less than half that number. As such it was the largest enrolled public school within the entire state.
Its founding Principal, Jesse O. Richards, Jr., stressed two key ingredients for future success: discipline and dignity. He personified both and demanded reciprocal actions from the faculty-staff and student body. "Blackness" was not an excuse for failure, even at a time when rigid racial separation and racial subordination were pervasive. At the weekly school assemblies, Richard concluded the program with upbeat remarks; almost a homily, where he mentioned prominent African Americans who succeeded despite great odds against them. The school's mascot was a bulldog with an attendant creed, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog" which later proved so helpful in the struggle for equal rights.
Jerome played in the band. The band director was the legendary, Yvonne Busch, who reinforced disciple with a wooden paddle. He learned that leadership was earned, not given. As such, he learned to interact equally with male and female members. This was especially important on out of town travel where food and other amenities were shared.
Jerome's future involvement had been preceded by several activist Clark alumni. The same year he enrolled at Clark, A.P. Tureaud, Jr., a member of Clark's class of 1953, became the first black undergraduate to enroll at LSU, where he encountered life-threatening opposition. Barbara M. Guillory, a member of that same class, filed a lawsuit to desegregate Tulane University and became the first African American to earn a PHD from Tulane.
Jerome attended Clark with a number of future Civil Rights activists, including fellow CORE members, Oretha Castle and her sister, Doris; Matthew (Flukey) Suarez, Betty Daniels, the four Thompson siblings: Alice, Jean, Pierce and Shirley, and Doratha {Dodie} Smith. Other future leaders of the NAACP Youth Council including Joan and Doris Truehill, Mtanguilisi Sanyika, (ne Hayward Henry) and yours truly.
Over the years Jerome's and my activities were similar, but we did not interact together frequently. We both picketed across the state; however he was often attacked physically and beaten brutally. While I was arrested and involved in several fights, it was never to the same extent. He was much more involved across the South than was I, and as a result, earned a much deserved national reputation; even though he remained amazingly modest and shunned personal attention. While he resisted too much public acclaim, I once persuaded him to accept recognition at an NAACP banquet where he was acclaimed as "Freedom's Friend."
After he transformed his Civil Rights career into community action, he focused on the city's youth, demonstrating by his own life that success was possible for anyone irrespective of race, class, birth, or gender. Many young people, including my son and daughter, benefited from his varied activities at Tambourine and Fan and the Treme Community Center.
Interesting, over the past several decades when Jerome and I met, we rarely spoke of our Civil Rights activities, but much more about Clark High School. While others referred to him as "Big Duck, " I always referred to him as "Bulldog!" His prodigious works testify to his life and he will be greatly missed.
So long Bulldog! if we meet again, we shall smile, embrace, and say, are the Bulldogs happy? Go Bulldogs go!
Raphael Cassimere, Jr. Clark Class of 1959
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