On Feb. 24 and 25, Birmingham-Southern hosted writer, actor, and director Roger Guenveur Smith for a series of virtual talks as part of the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program.

Smith is best known for his collaborations with Spike Lee, including his roles in “Do the Right Thing,” “Summer of Sam,” and “Malcolm X,” to name a few. In 2001, Smith adapted his solo stage performance, the Obie-Award winning “A Huey P. Newton Story,” into a Peabody Award-winning telefilm, directed by Lee. He has created and performed other studies on figures like Frederick Douglass, Christopher Columbus, and Bob Marley, alongside his prolific career on the screen. Smith has also taught at Yale University, Occidental College, and CalArts.

As this year’s Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, Smith visited Dr. Mark Schantz’s history and film class and Dr. Teddy Champion’s media and film studies senior seminar. He also had a conversation with BSC’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee that was open to the entire campus community.

In Schantz’s course, the conversation with Smith focused on the 2016 film “The Birth of a Nation” directed by, produced by, and starring Nate Parker – a reply to D. W. Griffith’s 1915 KKK propaganda film of the same name. The film depicts the Nat Turner slave rebellion of 1831, and Smith played Isaiah, a house slave who served Turner’s master.

“Smith shared his thoughts on bringing history to the stage and to the screen,” Schantz says. “This was an incredible opportunity for our students – we had just completed our screening of Parker’s film earlier in the week. His visit allowed the students time to speak with him with the memory of his performance fresh in mind.”

First-year student Hannah Jackson, who’s in Schantz’s class, was interested to hear more about Smith’s portrayal of Isaiah and what it was like to film on “bloody and sacred ground” in Savannah, Georgia.

“When asking him about the importance of performing history and the work that comes with that,” Jackson says, “Smith said, ‘The past can inform our present moment and help resolve the crisis to come.’ He studied history, literature, and sociology, and that is what informed and prepared him to create his own ways of expression. He draws from all experiences personally and academically in his independent work.”

Jackson was also struck by Smith’s knowledge of history and his ability to quote Frederick Douglass by heart. Seen in various plays and other works he’s written, he is a dedicated historian and even directs a Performing History Workshop at CalArts that focuses on pulling information from archives to incorporate into stage productions.

In Champion’s senior seminar, Smith spoke in more detail about putting on a one-man show, Black cinema and working with Spike Lee, and the convergence of history and film. His interest in historical figures is clear in his work, and he explained some of the research process and decision making when it comes to portraying events and people in history.

“One interesting topic was about the trend towards hiring actors from the same racial, cultural, or social background as the character they portray,” Champion says. “From Roger’s point of view, an actor should be able to act any part, regardless of their own background. One of his projects includes his representation of Otto Frank, a white Jewish German man and father of Anne Frank. On the stage, it seems less important that the actor matches the character’s skin tone, while a film adaptation might have different expectations from the audience.”

A filmed performance of one of Smith’s solo performances, “Rodney King” – focused on the life and times of Rodney King and directed by Spike Lee – is now available to stream on Netflix.

Learn more about Phi Beta Kappa at BSC here.