This snapshot was gathered in conjunction with the Museum on Main Street program at the Smithsonian Institution and its "Stories from Main Street" initiative. The project is intended to capture Americans' impressions and stories about their small-town and rural neighborhoods, waterways, personal memories, cultural traditions, work histories, and thoughts about American democracy. This story is from a group of narratives inspired by the Smithsonian traveling exhibition, "Voices and Votes: Democracy in America."
Felicia Smith (00:00): Hello, my name is Felicia Petty Smith. I am from West Helena, Arkansas. However, I live in Fort Smith at this present time. I've been in Fort Smith for 21 years now. I've always voted. I voted since I was 18. It was like it was a standard within our family to vote, even up to this day. And, I will tell you why, because there is power in our bloodline. What I mean by that is that long ago, my grandmother, Josetta, and Samuel McCoy, had to walk on dusty roads to a country store, and they had to pay poll tax to vote. So, if they paid those poll taxes to vote, and I can vote free, as a citizen it is my duty to do that.
(00:47): Also, we had Dennis Martin, who was one of the slaves from back in the day. He came into that same area way ahead of time to my grandmother, and he built a school, taught everybody else to read. And then the neighborhood would come around and gather around while he read the newspaper to the community to keep them informed of what was going on.
(01:13): But let me tell you the reason why it's important for me to vote. It's very important to me because of that reason, and plus, I'm free. I'm a citizen of the United States. I have a right, a civil right to vote, so I want to vote.
(01:28): Now, I have another story. I have a story that involves my daughter and myself. We attended... Well, as a matter of fact, my husband, my daughter, and myself, we went to vote together when Barack Obama was running for President in 2007. So, we did that vote, we took pictures and everything. My daughter was in Nashville, Tennessee, but she was voting absentee so she came home, and we did that as a family event.
(01:59): The next thing is that my daughter and I, we attended the Inauguration together, even with who is now her husband. And interesting enough, US Senator John Boozman, gave us the tickets to attend. And I have been knowing him in the past from going up to the Capital, and taking leadership trainings from him. He had selected me to do that. So I had a way in, or a shoe in, as you can say. But anyway, we went to the Inauguration. We got to do the concert the night before, and then just standing in the Mall between the US Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial, it reminded me of Martin Luther King giving that speech there, and there were masses of people. So it took me to a spirit of that event also. So, that's basically one of the events that we had, and I'll never forget it.
Asset ID: 2023.02.05.b
