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An Inconvenient Woman: The Extraordinary Life of Lillian Smith, the Southerner Who Defied Jim Crow America
A revelatory and immersive biography of a white Southern woman who was a key figure in the early civil rights movement, devoting her life to ending segregation in America only to be forgotten by history.
Born in Florida to a religious family, Lillian Smith (1897-1966) was a white Southern woman living in the Jim Crow South who defied all stereotypes: She lived with her lover, Paula, first running a summer camp in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, and then a magazine, devoted to creating a new vision of the South, one that passionately championed equality and integration. Smith published Black and white writers, a rare feat in those days, and herself wrote articles instructing white Southerners on why they shouldn’t support segregation—Smith firmly believed racism hurt white Americans, too. In 1944 she published a bestselling novel, Strange Fruit, which became a national sensation and was banned in Boston and Detroit. The FBI began a file on her, she received death threats, and her house caught fire three times, twice intentionally, resulting in the loss of all her works-in-progress and her correspondence. Undaunted, she continued her ardent fight against segregation, maintaining correspondence with some of the great leaders of her day, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr, W.E.B Dubois, Paul Robeson, and Pauli Murray. She continued to fight for both civil and human rights throughout the 1960s, helping nurture many of the activists in SNCC and CORE, only to succumb to cancer in 1966.
Drawing on previously unpublished archival research, and with a modern appreciation of Smith’s complex identity, AN INCONVENIENT WOMAN is the definitive account of a woman who defied all expectations and dedicated her life to racial equality.
Born in Florida to a religious family, Lillian Smith (1897-1966) was a white Southern woman living in the Jim Crow South who defied all stereotypes: She lived with her lover, Paula, first running a summer camp in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, and then a magazine, devoted to creating a new vision of the South, one that passionately championed equality and integration. Smith published Black and white writers, a rare feat in those days, and herself wrote articles instructing white Southerners on why they shouldn’t support segregation—Smith firmly believed racism hurt white Americans, too. In 1944 she published a bestselling novel, Strange Fruit, which became a national sensation and was banned in Boston and Detroit. The FBI began a file on her, she received death threats, and her house caught fire three times, twice intentionally, resulting in the loss of all her works-in-progress and her correspondence. Undaunted, she continued her ardent fight against segregation, maintaining correspondence with some of the great leaders of her day, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr, W.E.B Dubois, Paul Robeson, and Pauli Murray. She continued to fight for both civil and human rights throughout the 1960s, helping nurture many of the activists in SNCC and CORE, only to succumb to cancer in 1966.
Drawing on previously unpublished archival research, and with a modern appreciation of Smith’s complex identity, AN INCONVENIENT WOMAN is the definitive account of a woman who defied all expectations and dedicated her life to racial equality.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published September 29, 2026
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Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I love books that not only educate me, but also evoke emotion, and are about real people. Lillian Smith was a white southern woman who defied all stereotypes. She dared to speak her mind, have a career, fall in love with another woman and fight against segregation. First off, I must commend the author for the amount of research that went into the writing of this book. Upon reading this book, I couldn't help but wonder why I had never heard of Lillian Smith prior to picking up this book. She was a liberal from the south who fought for equality, the civil rights moment, had a literary career, and even had the FBI looking into her. She was a remarkable and admirable woman who has not been talked about enough.
I found this book to be incredibly informative and it left me in awe of Lillian Smith who despite what it cost her, fought for what she felt was right. I also found this book beyond being wonderfully written, well thought out and presented, but also awe inspiring. I admired how brave Lillian was and how she never backed down from what she knew to be right and how she paved the way for those who came after her.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
I found this book to be incredibly informative and it left me in awe of Lillian Smith who despite what it cost her, fought for what she felt was right. I also found this book beyond being wonderfully written, well thought out and presented, but also awe inspiring. I admired how brave Lillian was and how she never backed down from what she knew to be right and how she paved the way for those who came after her.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Lillian Smith was about that life!!! Smith was a white Southern woman who was considered a troublemaker by some and a civil rights advocate by others. She was a powerful writer who called out white supremacists and civil rights opponents and told them the origins of their issues. Her words have so much power and punch to them.
Keri Leigh Merritt has written an engaging biography about a historical figure who needs to be more well-known. Lillian Smith is someone who we should all look up to. I felt like I knew Lillian after finishing Merritt's book. Merritt has inspired me to dive into some of Smith's works.
Keri Leigh Merritt has written an engaging biography about a historical figure who needs to be more well-known. Lillian Smith is someone who we should all look up to. I felt like I knew Lillian after finishing Merritt's book. Merritt has inspired me to dive into some of Smith's works.
October 30, 2026
Rating: 4.75* of five
The Publisher Says: A revelatory and immersive biography of a white Southern woman who was a key figure in the early civil rights movement, devoting her life to ending segregation in America only to be forgotten by history.
Born in Florida to a religious family, Lillian Smith (1897-1966) was a white Southern woman living in the Jim Crow South who defied all stereotypes: She lived with her lover, Paula, first running a summer camp in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, and then a magazine, devoted to creating a new vision of the South, one that passionately championed equality and integration. Smith published Black and white writers, a rare feat in those days, and herself wrote articles instructing white Southerners on why they shouldn’t support segregation—Smith firmly believed racism hurt white Americans, too. In 1944 she published a bestselling novel, Strange Fruit, which became a national sensation and was banned in Boston and Detroit. The FBI began a file on her, she received death threats, and her house caught fire three times, twice intentionally, resulting in the loss of all her works-in-progress and her correspondence.
Undaunted, she continued her ardent fight against segregation, maintaining correspondence with some of the great leaders of her day, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr, W.E.B Dubois, Paul Robeson, and Pauli Murray. She continued to fight for both civil and human rights throughout the 1960s, helping nurture many of the activists in SNCC and CORE, only to succumb to cancer in 1966.
Drawing on previously unpublished archival research, and with a modern appreciation of Smith’s complex identity, An Inconvenient Woman is the definitive account of a woman who defied all expectations and dedicated her life to racial equality.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: We need another Lillian Smith after the upcoming midterms, regardless of the outcome. We need...have always needed...many Lillian Smiths, people willing to buck their systemic privilege to join the struggle for equity and equality.
She came by it honestly. Raised in a Methodist household that practiced (in theory) "love, acceptance, and understanding," Smith spent time doing missionary work in China where the actions of the white people often resembled their behaviors in her Georgia homeland. Awareness, once begun as a habit of mind, can not turn off or cease until death. Even a serious personal campaign to ignore awareness of injustice..."go along to get along"...is not turning awareness off, merely ignoring it. Lillian Smith remained fully aware of what she had seen, neither ignoring or avoiding her her perception guiding her actions in daily life. She was born into privilege, into a family whose wealth...in spite of their avowed christianity...was based on the exactions of slavery, and she was born with a voice.
Beginning at roughly the same moment as her forties, Lillian Smith began to pour out eloquent, cogent words against segregation and its legal and illegal rules, laws, customs. She and her lifelong partner, Paula Snelling, published a literary magazine called various things over its decade of issues. The women accepted submissions from Black writers, and submissions that quietly dealt with same-sex attraction. It became Lillian's conviction that she needed to write honestly about a miscegenous relationship. Thus was born her three-million-copy seller, Strange Fruit. (She insisted the title was unrelated to Billie Holiday's hit song {my favorite version from 1959 linked} but...)
Lillian Smith kept her romantic partnership with Paula Snelling masked until her death. It only made sense for them to do so in the Jim Crow South, riddled with hatred and violence as it was. They would've been in grave danger of death by mob. It was a worse time than any we've seen in the US until the invention of ICEstapo. It's been sixty years since Lillian Smith died of cancer. I like to think that her lesbian reincarnation was born on her centenary in 1997, and is preaparing to burst into outraged fury like Lillian Smith did, to goad decent but lazy or fearful people into action.
We need her. I think her biographer here has made a very good story out of Lillian Smith's life, filled with citations and with them, evidence of how important and inspiring Lillian Smith was to people across the spectrum of US society.
The Publisher Says: A revelatory and immersive biography of a white Southern woman who was a key figure in the early civil rights movement, devoting her life to ending segregation in America only to be forgotten by history.
Born in Florida to a religious family, Lillian Smith (1897-1966) was a white Southern woman living in the Jim Crow South who defied all stereotypes: She lived with her lover, Paula, first running a summer camp in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, and then a magazine, devoted to creating a new vision of the South, one that passionately championed equality and integration. Smith published Black and white writers, a rare feat in those days, and herself wrote articles instructing white Southerners on why they shouldn’t support segregation—Smith firmly believed racism hurt white Americans, too. In 1944 she published a bestselling novel, Strange Fruit, which became a national sensation and was banned in Boston and Detroit. The FBI began a file on her, she received death threats, and her house caught fire three times, twice intentionally, resulting in the loss of all her works-in-progress and her correspondence.
Undaunted, she continued her ardent fight against segregation, maintaining correspondence with some of the great leaders of her day, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr, W.E.B Dubois, Paul Robeson, and Pauli Murray. She continued to fight for both civil and human rights throughout the 1960s, helping nurture many of the activists in SNCC and CORE, only to succumb to cancer in 1966.
Drawing on previously unpublished archival research, and with a modern appreciation of Smith’s complex identity, An Inconvenient Woman is the definitive account of a woman who defied all expectations and dedicated her life to racial equality.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: We need another Lillian Smith after the upcoming midterms, regardless of the outcome. We need...have always needed...many Lillian Smiths, people willing to buck their systemic privilege to join the struggle for equity and equality.
She came by it honestly. Raised in a Methodist household that practiced (in theory) "love, acceptance, and understanding," Smith spent time doing missionary work in China where the actions of the white people often resembled their behaviors in her Georgia homeland. Awareness, once begun as a habit of mind, can not turn off or cease until death. Even a serious personal campaign to ignore awareness of injustice..."go along to get along"...is not turning awareness off, merely ignoring it. Lillian Smith remained fully aware of what she had seen, neither ignoring or avoiding her her perception guiding her actions in daily life. She was born into privilege, into a family whose wealth...in spite of their avowed christianity...was based on the exactions of slavery, and she was born with a voice.
Beginning at roughly the same moment as her forties, Lillian Smith began to pour out eloquent, cogent words against segregation and its legal and illegal rules, laws, customs. She and her lifelong partner, Paula Snelling, published a literary magazine called various things over its decade of issues. The women accepted submissions from Black writers, and submissions that quietly dealt with same-sex attraction. It became Lillian's conviction that she needed to write honestly about a miscegenous relationship. Thus was born her three-million-copy seller, Strange Fruit. (She insisted the title was unrelated to Billie Holiday's hit song {my favorite version from 1959 linked} but...)
Lillian Smith kept her romantic partnership with Paula Snelling masked until her death. It only made sense for them to do so in the Jim Crow South, riddled with hatred and violence as it was. They would've been in grave danger of death by mob. It was a worse time than any we've seen in the US until the invention of ICEstapo. It's been sixty years since Lillian Smith died of cancer. I like to think that her lesbian reincarnation was born on her centenary in 1997, and is preaparing to burst into outraged fury like Lillian Smith did, to goad decent but lazy or fearful people into action.
We need her. I think her biographer here has made a very good story out of Lillian Smith's life, filled with citations and with them, evidence of how important and inspiring Lillian Smith was to people across the spectrum of US society.
October 11, 2026
I decided to slip some nonfiction in between all my "witchy" stories this month.
At the heart of this biography is Lillian Smith (1897–1966), a white Southern woman and author who never shied away from challenging society’s norms.
Before reading this book, I had no idea who Lillian Smith was or what literary legacy she had left behind. Of course, being a lesbian and speaking openly about racism were enough to attract the FBI’s attention, leading to attempts to portray Smith as a communist. Utter foolishness, but it was very common in her time.
It was an informative read, but some parts were repetitive with regard to Lillian's relationship with her mother and her partner, Paula. However, what does come across is the fiery spirit and resolve of Lillian to be and do better, and she wanted to provoke people's minds, especially in the South.
Publication Date 29/09/26
Goodreads Review 11/10/26
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.
At the heart of this biography is Lillian Smith (1897–1966), a white Southern woman and author who never shied away from challenging society’s norms.
Before reading this book, I had no idea who Lillian Smith was or what literary legacy she had left behind. Of course, being a lesbian and speaking openly about racism were enough to attract the FBI’s attention, leading to attempts to portray Smith as a communist. Utter foolishness, but it was very common in her time.
It was an informative read, but some parts were repetitive with regard to Lillian's relationship with her mother and her partner, Paula. However, what does come across is the fiery spirit and resolve of Lillian to be and do better, and she wanted to provoke people's minds, especially in the South.
Publication Date 29/09/26
Goodreads Review 11/10/26
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Lillian Smith, was at her core, a great humanitarian. from An Inconvenient Woman by Keri Leigh Merritt
I first read about Lillian Smith when I was designing my quilt for women leaders in abolition and Civil Rights. When I saw this new biography, I knew I had to read it and learn more about Smith.
Like so many other amazing women, Smith has been eclipsed by history’s concentration on the achievements of men. Perhaps she is remembered because Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested because Smith, a white woman, was in his car.
A Southern white woman whose family wealth was built on enslavement, Smith was “an avowed enemy of white supremacy,” as Merritt writes, using her pen and her voice and money in support of equality. She was a dedicated pacifist.
Her novel Strange Fruit was banned in the South. Her nonfiction Killers of the Dream was a radical dissection of the roots of Southern racism.
We need to learn to think of the Negro as human; we need ourselves to become human.” Lillian Smith quoted in An Inconvenient Woman
Smith also challenged other norms. Her life partner Paula believed Smith was bisexual and her novels included lesbian relationships.
From running a progressive summer camp, to starting a new literary magazine, to writing startling books, Smith was driven to make a difference. She was championed by Eleanor Roosevelt and was friends with Pauli Murry.
Her last decade was besieged with losses and challenges. She underwent numerous operations for cancer; without insurance she struggled with medical debt. Her home was targeted by arsonists, and two children thoughtlessly caused a fire that destroyed important papers and work sin progress. As the main breadwinner, she needed to provide for Paula to outlive her.
Smith believed that violence and anger was a double edged sword, harming the hater and victim equally. She warned against demagogues who “fatten on the poor man’s vote and his loneliness.” She called for new paradigms of thinking about the world.
In an interview with Studs Terkel he asked “Who are you?” and she answered “A questioner.”
What an amazing role model! We must continually question why and imagine new ways of living. We should never accept injustice. We should never let setbacks and rejection prevent us from our goals.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for a free book through NetGalley.
I first read about Lillian Smith when I was designing my quilt for women leaders in abolition and Civil Rights. When I saw this new biography, I knew I had to read it and learn more about Smith.
Like so many other amazing women, Smith has been eclipsed by history’s concentration on the achievements of men. Perhaps she is remembered because Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested because Smith, a white woman, was in his car.
A Southern white woman whose family wealth was built on enslavement, Smith was “an avowed enemy of white supremacy,” as Merritt writes, using her pen and her voice and money in support of equality. She was a dedicated pacifist.
Her novel Strange Fruit was banned in the South. Her nonfiction Killers of the Dream was a radical dissection of the roots of Southern racism.
We need to learn to think of the Negro as human; we need ourselves to become human.” Lillian Smith quoted in An Inconvenient Woman
Smith also challenged other norms. Her life partner Paula believed Smith was bisexual and her novels included lesbian relationships.
From running a progressive summer camp, to starting a new literary magazine, to writing startling books, Smith was driven to make a difference. She was championed by Eleanor Roosevelt and was friends with Pauli Murry.
Her last decade was besieged with losses and challenges. She underwent numerous operations for cancer; without insurance she struggled with medical debt. Her home was targeted by arsonists, and two children thoughtlessly caused a fire that destroyed important papers and work sin progress. As the main breadwinner, she needed to provide for Paula to outlive her.
Smith believed that violence and anger was a double edged sword, harming the hater and victim equally. She warned against demagogues who “fatten on the poor man’s vote and his loneliness.” She called for new paradigms of thinking about the world.
In an interview with Studs Terkel he asked “Who are you?” and she answered “A questioner.”
What an amazing role model! We must continually question why and imagine new ways of living. We should never accept injustice. We should never let setbacks and rejection prevent us from our goals.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for a free book through NetGalley.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Keri Leigh Merritt, and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.
As someone with a deep interest in history, politics, and social change, I am always eager to discover figures whose contributions have been overlooked by the broader historical narrative. Keri Leigh Merritt's An Inconvenient Woman shines a much-needed light on Lillian Smith, a woman whose commitment to racial equality and social justice placed her far ahead of her time and often at great personal risk.
Merritt's research is impressive, and her dedication to presenting a comprehensive portrait of Smith is evident throughout the book. She does an admirable job exploring both the public and private aspects of Smith's life, highlighting her activism, literary achievements, and relationships while placing them within the larger context of the Jim Crow South and the early civil rights movement. Readers interested in American history and social reform will find much to appreciate in the wealth of detail provided.
That said, despite recognising the significance of Smith's accomplishments, I struggled to form the connection with the subject that I had hoped for. While the biography is informative and thoughtfully constructed, I often felt more like an observer than an engaged participant in Smith's story. The narrative provides ample historical context and important background, but I found the overall flow somewhat uneven, making it difficult to become fully immersed in the book's emotional core.
There is no question that Lillian Smith lived a remarkable life and deserves greater recognition for her contributions to the fight against segregation and injustice. Merritt succeeds in documenting those achievements with care and scholarship. Unfortunately, the biography never quite resonated with me on the deeper level I was seeking, leaving me admiring Smith's legacy more than feeling personally invested in her journey.
A worthwhile and well-researched biography that will undoubtedly appeal to many readers, even if it ultimately did not leave the lasting impression I had hoped for with such a piece.
Kudos, Madam Merritt, for a valiant effort depicting this early civil rights icon!
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at: http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
As someone with a deep interest in history, politics, and social change, I am always eager to discover figures whose contributions have been overlooked by the broader historical narrative. Keri Leigh Merritt's An Inconvenient Woman shines a much-needed light on Lillian Smith, a woman whose commitment to racial equality and social justice placed her far ahead of her time and often at great personal risk.
Merritt's research is impressive, and her dedication to presenting a comprehensive portrait of Smith is evident throughout the book. She does an admirable job exploring both the public and private aspects of Smith's life, highlighting her activism, literary achievements, and relationships while placing them within the larger context of the Jim Crow South and the early civil rights movement. Readers interested in American history and social reform will find much to appreciate in the wealth of detail provided.
That said, despite recognising the significance of Smith's accomplishments, I struggled to form the connection with the subject that I had hoped for. While the biography is informative and thoughtfully constructed, I often felt more like an observer than an engaged participant in Smith's story. The narrative provides ample historical context and important background, but I found the overall flow somewhat uneven, making it difficult to become fully immersed in the book's emotional core.
There is no question that Lillian Smith lived a remarkable life and deserves greater recognition for her contributions to the fight against segregation and injustice. Merritt succeeds in documenting those achievements with care and scholarship. Unfortunately, the biography never quite resonated with me on the deeper level I was seeking, leaving me admiring Smith's legacy more than feeling personally invested in her journey.
A worthwhile and well-researched biography that will undoubtedly appeal to many readers, even if it ultimately did not leave the lasting impression I had hoped for with such a piece.
Kudos, Madam Merritt, for a valiant effort depicting this early civil rights icon!
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at: http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is an inspiring, eye opening biography that delivers a remarkable and long overlooked trailblazer from the shadows of American history.
Lillian Smith was a white Southern woman from a religious Florida family, who courageously defied the Jim Crow South with bold integrity. She lived openly with her devoted partner Paula, ran a progressive summer camp in the Appalachian foothills, edited a visionary magazine that amplified black and white voices, and wielded her pen as a powerful force against segregation. Her 1944 bestselling novel Strange Fruit (distinct from the Billie Holiday song) ignited national controversy and marked her as a rare white Southern voice demanding full equality.
Ms Merritt vividly portrays Lillian’s contradictions, courage, and intellectual depth. More than an activist, Lillian offered transformative insights, arguing that racism harmed everyone, including white Southerners trapped in fear and repression. She connected with luminaries like Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr, mentored SNCC and CORE activists, and faced immense challenges with remarkable resilience, emerging as a beacon of moral clarity.
Written with vibrant energy, deep empathy, and fresh archival insight, the book beautifully balances the personal and political illuminating Lillian’s quiet strength, intellectual fire, and loving partnership with Paula, while celebrating her identity as a lesbian Southerner who bravely challenged multiple taboos.
Immersive and novel-like, this uplifting bio reveals why Lillian’s powerful ideas on fear, repression, and radical honesty about race continue to inspire and resonate today. In an era craving authentic voices, Lillian Smith stands gloriously inconvenient and profoundly necessary.
It’s enlightening and captivating.
**I would like to express my gratitude to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
#ARC
#AnInconvenientWoman
#KeriLeighMerritt
#StMartinsPress
Lillian Smith was a white Southern woman from a religious Florida family, who courageously defied the Jim Crow South with bold integrity. She lived openly with her devoted partner Paula, ran a progressive summer camp in the Appalachian foothills, edited a visionary magazine that amplified black and white voices, and wielded her pen as a powerful force against segregation. Her 1944 bestselling novel Strange Fruit (distinct from the Billie Holiday song) ignited national controversy and marked her as a rare white Southern voice demanding full equality.
Ms Merritt vividly portrays Lillian’s contradictions, courage, and intellectual depth. More than an activist, Lillian offered transformative insights, arguing that racism harmed everyone, including white Southerners trapped in fear and repression. She connected with luminaries like Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr, mentored SNCC and CORE activists, and faced immense challenges with remarkable resilience, emerging as a beacon of moral clarity.
Written with vibrant energy, deep empathy, and fresh archival insight, the book beautifully balances the personal and political illuminating Lillian’s quiet strength, intellectual fire, and loving partnership with Paula, while celebrating her identity as a lesbian Southerner who bravely challenged multiple taboos.
Immersive and novel-like, this uplifting bio reveals why Lillian’s powerful ideas on fear, repression, and radical honesty about race continue to inspire and resonate today. In an era craving authentic voices, Lillian Smith stands gloriously inconvenient and profoundly necessary.
It’s enlightening and captivating.
**I would like to express my gratitude to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
#ARC
#AnInconvenientWoman
#KeriLeighMerritt
#StMartinsPress
August 5, 2026
For most people who have learned about the history of Jim Crow and the civil rights movement, the term "white Southerners" will conjure images of violence and hatred. But not all Southerners supported segregation, and some brave ones spoke out against it and worked with the more well-known leaders in the movement to fight it. That said, throughout history, the role of women in political movements has always been minimized and, in some cases, even forgotten, so I was not surprised that despite her record of prolific work in support of racial equality and her friendships with such famous names and Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr., I had never heard of Lillian Smith. This biography proved to be an excellent way to rectify that. Lillian Smith spent the entirety of her adult life writing essays, works of social criticism, and novels to advocate for racial equality and to attempt to show that racial discrimination harms whites as well as Blacks. As a queer liberal woman unafraid to share her opinions, she faced backlash and very real physical threats, yet she didn't let anything stop her, and she used what power she had as a white woman to uplift and promote people of color who often faced much worse. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to get to know her and her work a bit, and I am glad that this biography is doing its part to ensure that Smith's story isn't lost to time.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in return for an honest review. It will be published on September 29, 2026.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in return for an honest review. It will be published on September 29, 2026.
October 4, 2026
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5 Stars
She Made the South Uncomfortable, and She Meant To 📖
An Inconvenient Woman: The Extraordinary Life of Lillian Smith, the Southerner Who Defied Jim Crow America
by Keri Leigh Merritt
Lillian Smith stood up to Jim Crow, refused to appease segregationists, and earned the respect of Martin Luther King Jr. Yet most of us have never heard her name. That gap is what kept me turning pages of Keri Leigh Merritt's biography. 💭
Smith spent much of her life making the people around her uneasy, and she had good reason. Born in Florida in 1897, she grew up surrounded by the same racial prejudice she would later devote her career to confronting. She became a writer, an educator, and a loud voice for integration at a time when many white Southerners still wanted change to come slowly, if it came at all. ✊
What I appreciated most was seeing how many forms her activism took. She did not just give speeches or write about injustice from a safe distance. She ran Laurel Falls Camp, published South Today with Paula Snelling, and wrote books like Strange Fruit and Killers of the Dream, all of it aimed at the attitudes that kept segregation in place. 🏕️
Paula's place in this story moved me. 💔 The two women shared a home, their intellectual lives, and a commitment to changing the South, yet the world around them allowed no open acknowledgment of their love. Merritt gives that relationship the weight it deserves.
Merritt also shows that being on the right side of history does not make life easy. Smith faced censorship, hostility, money troubles, and recurring cancer, and her convictions cost her dearly. 😢 I was glad to see the attention paid to her criticism of white moderates, the people who opposed segregation in theory but backed away when real change threatened their comfort. Smith understood that putting off justice was another way of protecting injustice. ⚖️
The research is thorough, and at times quite dense, but the letters and personal details keep Smith a living, breathing person and not a list of accomplishments. 🔍
The last chapter was hard to read. Smith's worry for Paula as her health failed shows a tenderness that makes her loss feel personal. 🕊️
I closed the book wondering how many others helped change the course of history and then slipped out of the stories we tell about it. Lillian Smith deserves to be remembered, and Merritt has given readers a very good reason to learn her name. 🌿
Thank you, Keri Leigh Merritt/NetGalley/St. Martin's Press, for the gifted copy of this book. I was more than happy to leave my honest review, and all opinions are my own. 🎁
#AnInconvenientWoman #KeriLeighMerritt #LillianSmith #HistoricalBiography #CivilRightsHistory #WomensHistory
She Made the South Uncomfortable, and She Meant To 📖
An Inconvenient Woman: The Extraordinary Life of Lillian Smith, the Southerner Who Defied Jim Crow America
by Keri Leigh Merritt
Lillian Smith stood up to Jim Crow, refused to appease segregationists, and earned the respect of Martin Luther King Jr. Yet most of us have never heard her name. That gap is what kept me turning pages of Keri Leigh Merritt's biography. 💭
Smith spent much of her life making the people around her uneasy, and she had good reason. Born in Florida in 1897, she grew up surrounded by the same racial prejudice she would later devote her career to confronting. She became a writer, an educator, and a loud voice for integration at a time when many white Southerners still wanted change to come slowly, if it came at all. ✊
What I appreciated most was seeing how many forms her activism took. She did not just give speeches or write about injustice from a safe distance. She ran Laurel Falls Camp, published South Today with Paula Snelling, and wrote books like Strange Fruit and Killers of the Dream, all of it aimed at the attitudes that kept segregation in place. 🏕️
Paula's place in this story moved me. 💔 The two women shared a home, their intellectual lives, and a commitment to changing the South, yet the world around them allowed no open acknowledgment of their love. Merritt gives that relationship the weight it deserves.
Merritt also shows that being on the right side of history does not make life easy. Smith faced censorship, hostility, money troubles, and recurring cancer, and her convictions cost her dearly. 😢 I was glad to see the attention paid to her criticism of white moderates, the people who opposed segregation in theory but backed away when real change threatened their comfort. Smith understood that putting off justice was another way of protecting injustice. ⚖️
The research is thorough, and at times quite dense, but the letters and personal details keep Smith a living, breathing person and not a list of accomplishments. 🔍
The last chapter was hard to read. Smith's worry for Paula as her health failed shows a tenderness that makes her loss feel personal. 🕊️
I closed the book wondering how many others helped change the course of history and then slipped out of the stories we tell about it. Lillian Smith deserves to be remembered, and Merritt has given readers a very good reason to learn her name. 🌿
Thank you, Keri Leigh Merritt/NetGalley/St. Martin's Press, for the gifted copy of this book. I was more than happy to leave my honest review, and all opinions are my own. 🎁
#AnInconvenientWoman #KeriLeighMerritt #LillianSmith #HistoricalBiography #CivilRightsHistory #WomensHistory
October 1, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
An Inconvenient Woman by Carrie Lee Merritt introduced me to Lillian Smith, a woman I’m honestly a little embarrassed I knew nothing about before reading this book.
Smith was born in 1897, grew up as a privileged white Southerner, became a bestselling author, and spent much of her adult life speaking out against racism and segregation. She was a contemporary of Martin Luther King Jr. and was doing outspoken anti-racist and civil rights work at a time when taking those positions—especially as a white woman in the South—came with very real consequences.
One of the things I kept thinking about while reading was how often we excuse older relatives by saying, “Well, they were a product of their time.” Maybe Grandpa said some racist things, but that was just how people thought back then, right?
Except…people like Lillian Smith existed.
She was born in 1897. She was absolutely a product of her time, too—and she still recognized injustice and chose to fight against it. Learning about people like Smith makes that excuse feel a whole lot less comfortable.
Her life was extraordinary in so many ways. She ran a summer camp alongside her longtime partner, Paula. She wrote bestselling books. She challenged the culture she had been raised in and used the privilege she was born with to advocate for people who did not share it. She also endured an incredibly long battle with cancer, facing the disease repeatedly before ultimately dying from it.
This is definitely a history book rather than a narrative nonfiction book—it can read a little like a textbook at times—but I found Smith herself so compelling that I didn’t mind. I also really appreciated the photographs included in the middle of the book. They helped make this woman I had never heard of feel much more real.
More than anything, this book made me examine my own privilege and ask what I am doing with it. Lillian Smith had enormous advantages because of who she was and where she came from, and rather than simply enjoying those advantages, she chose to use her voice and position to push for change.
She was remarkably ahead of her time—and I’m grateful I finally know her name.
If you enjoy history, civil rights nonfiction, or books about women who defied the expectations placed upon them, I absolutely recommend this one.
Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a finished copy. 💙
An Inconvenient Woman by Carrie Lee Merritt introduced me to Lillian Smith, a woman I’m honestly a little embarrassed I knew nothing about before reading this book.
Smith was born in 1897, grew up as a privileged white Southerner, became a bestselling author, and spent much of her adult life speaking out against racism and segregation. She was a contemporary of Martin Luther King Jr. and was doing outspoken anti-racist and civil rights work at a time when taking those positions—especially as a white woman in the South—came with very real consequences.
One of the things I kept thinking about while reading was how often we excuse older relatives by saying, “Well, they were a product of their time.” Maybe Grandpa said some racist things, but that was just how people thought back then, right?
Except…people like Lillian Smith existed.
She was born in 1897. She was absolutely a product of her time, too—and she still recognized injustice and chose to fight against it. Learning about people like Smith makes that excuse feel a whole lot less comfortable.
Her life was extraordinary in so many ways. She ran a summer camp alongside her longtime partner, Paula. She wrote bestselling books. She challenged the culture she had been raised in and used the privilege she was born with to advocate for people who did not share it. She also endured an incredibly long battle with cancer, facing the disease repeatedly before ultimately dying from it.
This is definitely a history book rather than a narrative nonfiction book—it can read a little like a textbook at times—but I found Smith herself so compelling that I didn’t mind. I also really appreciated the photographs included in the middle of the book. They helped make this woman I had never heard of feel much more real.
More than anything, this book made me examine my own privilege and ask what I am doing with it. Lillian Smith had enormous advantages because of who she was and where she came from, and rather than simply enjoying those advantages, she chose to use her voice and position to push for change.
She was remarkably ahead of her time—and I’m grateful I finally know her name.
If you enjoy history, civil rights nonfiction, or books about women who defied the expectations placed upon them, I absolutely recommend this one.
Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a finished copy. 💙
October 9, 2026
An Inconvenient Woman ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
Now, I’m just going to be honest. Before picking up this book, I knew next to nothing about Lillian Smith beyond the fact that she wrote Strange Fruit, which happens to be one of my favorite books. Published in 1944, it tackled interracial relationships in the Deep South, and you can imagine the controversy that stirred up. But the woman behind the book? I knew absolutely nothing about her.
Well, apparently, Miss Lillian was quite the woman!
I had no idea just how involved she was in the fight for civil rights and racial equality. She was outspoken, passionate, and certainly wasn’t interested in conforming to society’s expectations of what a white Southern lady should be. And I loved learning that about her. She was a writer, an activist, and a champion for people whose voices weren’t being heard.
The biography itself was well written, although I did find certain details a bit repetitive, particularly the references to her losing some of her work in a fire. I understood the significance, but after a while, I felt like we’d covered that ground already. Still, it wasn’t enough to take away from my enjoyment.
I wouldn’t call this an especially deep dive into her life, but it was a really nice introduction to a woman I clearly should have known more about. I also discovered that she wrote quite a bit beyond Strange Fruit, and Killers of the Dream has definitely made its way onto my reading list.
Overall, I’m glad I picked this one up. It’s always a pleasure to finish a book having learned something new, especially when it changes the way you look at an author whose work you’ve admired for years.
Four stars!
Now, I’m just going to be honest. Before picking up this book, I knew next to nothing about Lillian Smith beyond the fact that she wrote Strange Fruit, which happens to be one of my favorite books. Published in 1944, it tackled interracial relationships in the Deep South, and you can imagine the controversy that stirred up. But the woman behind the book? I knew absolutely nothing about her.
Well, apparently, Miss Lillian was quite the woman!
I had no idea just how involved she was in the fight for civil rights and racial equality. She was outspoken, passionate, and certainly wasn’t interested in conforming to society’s expectations of what a white Southern lady should be. And I loved learning that about her. She was a writer, an activist, and a champion for people whose voices weren’t being heard.
The biography itself was well written, although I did find certain details a bit repetitive, particularly the references to her losing some of her work in a fire. I understood the significance, but after a while, I felt like we’d covered that ground already. Still, it wasn’t enough to take away from my enjoyment.
I wouldn’t call this an especially deep dive into her life, but it was a really nice introduction to a woman I clearly should have known more about. I also discovered that she wrote quite a bit beyond Strange Fruit, and Killers of the Dream has definitely made its way onto my reading list.
Overall, I’m glad I picked this one up. It’s always a pleasure to finish a book having learned something new, especially when it changes the way you look at an author whose work you’ve admired for years.
Four stars!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I very much enjoyed this book! I knew nothing about Lillian Smith and her contributions to the civil rights era. It was interesting seeing how she was brought up and how that shaped her beliefs. The fact that she was a relatively open lesbian in an era where that was not accepted was interesting. Of course, she lived in a small town where everyone already knew and accepted her, but still, I appreciated how the book didn't make her partner Paula Snelling a footnote to the story, but instead a fully developed character.
Lillian certainly knew how to toot her own horn, and I got the idea that she sometimes overrepresented her role in the civil rights movement. I didn't much like her, but I appreciated that she hosted interracial salons and wrote her mind. The magazine that she and Paula started was likely groundbreaking in Georgia for representing the work of Black and white writers, and her thoughs on civil right actions were doubtless controversial. It's no wonder she was targeted but a small miracle that there weren't greater consequences. I think the fact that she was a white woman who came from a privileged background helped, and her brother's role in local politics also helped.
I'll pick up her book Strange Fruit and see what that's about . I don't believe her when she said that she wasn't thinking of the Billie Holliday song at all, that she came up with that all on her own. This smacks of another piece of self-aggrandizement. I wonder if the author felt similarly, since she uses the words bragged several times.
I will look for other work from Keri Leigh Merritt!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in return for an honest review. It will be published on September 29, 2026.
Lillian certainly knew how to toot her own horn, and I got the idea that she sometimes overrepresented her role in the civil rights movement. I didn't much like her, but I appreciated that she hosted interracial salons and wrote her mind. The magazine that she and Paula started was likely groundbreaking in Georgia for representing the work of Black and white writers, and her thoughs on civil right actions were doubtless controversial. It's no wonder she was targeted but a small miracle that there weren't greater consequences. I think the fact that she was a white woman who came from a privileged background helped, and her brother's role in local politics also helped.
I'll pick up her book Strange Fruit and see what that's about . I don't believe her when she said that she wasn't thinking of the Billie Holliday song at all, that she came up with that all on her own. This smacks of another piece of self-aggrandizement. I wonder if the author felt similarly, since she uses the words bragged several times.
I will look for other work from Keri Leigh Merritt!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in return for an honest review. It will be published on September 29, 2026.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
An Inconvenient Woman: The Extraordinary Life of Lillian Smith, the Southerner Who Defied Jim Crow America is a biography of writer, activist, and social critic Lillian Smith, whose life challenged the racial, social, and cultural norms of the twentieth-century American South. Born into a white Southern family, Smith rejected the ideology of segregation that surrounded her from childhood and became one of the region's most outspoken advocates for racial equality. Alongside her lifelong companion, Paula Snelling, she operated a progressive summer camp and later edited a literary magazine that promoted dialogue about race, justice, and Southern identity. Smith also published works that criticized segregation and explored the moral and psychological consequences of racism for both Black and white Americans.
Keri Leigh Merritt traces Smith's personal journey alongside the broader history of Jim Crow, demonstrating how Smith's convictions brought both admiration and intense opposition. Her bestselling novel Strange Fruit challenged prevailing racial attitudes and provoked censorship, public controversy, and government scrutiny. Throughout her career, Smith endured threats, harassment, and significant personal loss, yet she remained committed to advocating for civil rights and social reform. The biography argues that Smith's influence has been overshadowed despite her important contributions to the early civil rights movement. By placing her life within the larger context of Southern history, Merritt presents Smith as a courageous and visionary figure whose writings and activism helped prepare the way for later struggles against segregation and racial injustice.
#aninconvenientwoman #netgalley #stmartinspress
Keri Leigh Merritt traces Smith's personal journey alongside the broader history of Jim Crow, demonstrating how Smith's convictions brought both admiration and intense opposition. Her bestselling novel Strange Fruit challenged prevailing racial attitudes and provoked censorship, public controversy, and government scrutiny. Throughout her career, Smith endured threats, harassment, and significant personal loss, yet she remained committed to advocating for civil rights and social reform. The biography argues that Smith's influence has been overshadowed despite her important contributions to the early civil rights movement. By placing her life within the larger context of Southern history, Merritt presents Smith as a courageous and visionary figure whose writings and activism helped prepare the way for later struggles against segregation and racial injustice.
#aninconvenientwoman #netgalley #stmartinspress
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
For most, I'd venture to say that the name Lillian Smith is unrecognized.
Yet, her impact was profound.
"An Inconvenient Woman" is the biography of Smith, an acclaimed writer and activist who was a key figure in the early civil rights moment. Smith, who passed away in 1966, was a white Southern woman living in the Jim Crow South who seemed to never meet a stereotype she wouldn't defy. Living the majority of her adult life with longtime partner Paula, Lillian Smith devoted her life to ending segregation in America and yet is seldom recognized for her efforts.
Far before her views were remotely acceptable, Smith worked toward integration and equality. She herself published both Black and white writers, and she paid the price many times for her essays and books speaking out against segregation. Her 1944 novel "Strange Fruit" was a controversial bestseller, banned in some states and leading to the FBI starting a file on her.
Still, she persevered. Such familiar names as Eleanor Rooselvelt, Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B. Dubois, Paul Robeson and others would become part of her circle.
"An Inconvenient Woman" brings to life Smith's life thanks to extensive, and previously unpublished, archival research and historical documents along with reminders of her remarkable, trailblazing writing.
Easily one of the more unsung voices of the civil rights movement, Lillian Smith's fierce dedication is given its due with this biography from Keri Leigh Merritt.
Yet, her impact was profound.
"An Inconvenient Woman" is the biography of Smith, an acclaimed writer and activist who was a key figure in the early civil rights moment. Smith, who passed away in 1966, was a white Southern woman living in the Jim Crow South who seemed to never meet a stereotype she wouldn't defy. Living the majority of her adult life with longtime partner Paula, Lillian Smith devoted her life to ending segregation in America and yet is seldom recognized for her efforts.
Far before her views were remotely acceptable, Smith worked toward integration and equality. She herself published both Black and white writers, and she paid the price many times for her essays and books speaking out against segregation. Her 1944 novel "Strange Fruit" was a controversial bestseller, banned in some states and leading to the FBI starting a file on her.
Still, she persevered. Such familiar names as Eleanor Rooselvelt, Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B. Dubois, Paul Robeson and others would become part of her circle.
"An Inconvenient Woman" brings to life Smith's life thanks to extensive, and previously unpublished, archival research and historical documents along with reminders of her remarkable, trailblazing writing.
Easily one of the more unsung voices of the civil rights movement, Lillian Smith's fierce dedication is given its due with this biography from Keri Leigh Merritt.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I was really excited to learn more about Lillian Smith, but the execution of An Inconvenient Woman just didn't work for me. The premise was highly interesting, but the writing was so dense and wordy that I struggled to stay engaged. I actually ended up going to Wikipedia to get the core facts of her life in fewer words. A compelling historical figure, but the book badly needed a tighter edit.
October 18, 2026
**Rating:** ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The things I didn't know about Lillian Smith before picking up this book! If you think you have a solid grasp on the history of the Civil Rights Movement, Keri Leigh Merritt’s *An Inconvenient Woman* is going to put you in your seat. It’s one of those rare biographies that reads like a novel while making you rethink a massive chunk of 20th-century American history.
Merritt hooks you right from the first page with a remarkable story: back in May 1960, when Martin Luther King, Jr. was famously pulled over in Atlanta—an arrest that set off a chain of events leading to JFK’s pivotal phone call to Coretta Scott King—it wasn't actually about a traffic violation. The cop pulled him over because there was a white woman riding in the passenger seat. That woman was Lillian Smith, who was heading back to Emory Hospital for cancer treatment after having dinner with the Kings. As Lillian herself later wrote in all caps to a friend: "I WAS IN THE CAR WITH HIM". Yet somehow, she was completely scrubbed from the story.
She lived an almost unbelievable, significant life:
* **She was "Jane the Baptist" of the Civil Rights Movement:** That’s what activist Lonnie King called her because "she came early"—openly demanding integration in the Deep South as far back as the 1930s, decades before most white "liberals" dared to whisper the word.
* **She ran a subversive summer camp for the Southern elite:** After a fascinating three-year stint teaching music in China during the 1920s, "Miss Lil" took over her family's Laurel Falls Camp for Girls in the North Georgia mountains. Segregationist politicians and wealthy planters sent their daughters to her, and she spent the summers quietly deprogramming them—teaching them about art, psychology, bodily autonomy, and how racism damages white children's souls just as surely as it hurts Black children.
* **She wrote a mega-bestseller that terrified the establishment:** Her 1944 novel *Strange Fruit*—about an interracial romance and a lynching in a small Georgia town modeled on her childhood home of Jasper, Florida—sold an incredible three million copies. It got banned in Boston for "obscenity" and was even blocked by the U.S. Postal Service until her close friend Eleanor Roosevelt stepped in and got FDR to lift the ban.
* **She hosted secret interracial salons in rural Appalachia:** Alongside her lifelong partner, Paula Snelling, Lillian co-edited the groundbreaking literary magazine *South Today* (publishing legends like W. E. B. Du Bois and a young Pauli Murray) and hosted integrated retreats atop Old Screamer Mountain right under the nose of the KKK.
What I especially liked about Merritt’s approach is that she doesn't put Lillian on a plaster saint pedestal. Earlier biographies danced around Lillian’s personal life, referring to Paula merely as a "close friend". Merritt gives us the real, messy, wonderful truth of their forty-year queer partnership—how they navigated life as "quiet lesbians" in conservative rural Georgia, and how Paula’s steady devotion kept Lillian going. Merritt also lets us see Lillian’s flaws: she could be domineering, jealous, and prickly, and she had zero patience for gradualist white male moderates like Atlanta newspaper editor Ralph McGill (their decades-long feud is fascinating to read about).
I so admired her courage as Lillian in the later chapters as she battled metastatic breast cancer for thirteen brutal years, endured a 134-page FBI file, and watched an arsonist burn down her home in 1955, destroying decades of unpublished manuscripts and letters. Yet she never backed down.
With a moving foreword by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, this book is a fantastic, entertaining and informative read. If you enjoy powerhouse biographies, Southern history, or stories of fearless women who refused to play by the rules of their era, do yourself a favor and pick this one up. Highly, highly recommend!
The things I didn't know about Lillian Smith before picking up this book! If you think you have a solid grasp on the history of the Civil Rights Movement, Keri Leigh Merritt’s *An Inconvenient Woman* is going to put you in your seat. It’s one of those rare biographies that reads like a novel while making you rethink a massive chunk of 20th-century American history.
Merritt hooks you right from the first page with a remarkable story: back in May 1960, when Martin Luther King, Jr. was famously pulled over in Atlanta—an arrest that set off a chain of events leading to JFK’s pivotal phone call to Coretta Scott King—it wasn't actually about a traffic violation. The cop pulled him over because there was a white woman riding in the passenger seat. That woman was Lillian Smith, who was heading back to Emory Hospital for cancer treatment after having dinner with the Kings. As Lillian herself later wrote in all caps to a friend: "I WAS IN THE CAR WITH HIM". Yet somehow, she was completely scrubbed from the story.
She lived an almost unbelievable, significant life:
* **She was "Jane the Baptist" of the Civil Rights Movement:** That’s what activist Lonnie King called her because "she came early"—openly demanding integration in the Deep South as far back as the 1930s, decades before most white "liberals" dared to whisper the word.
* **She ran a subversive summer camp for the Southern elite:** After a fascinating three-year stint teaching music in China during the 1920s, "Miss Lil" took over her family's Laurel Falls Camp for Girls in the North Georgia mountains. Segregationist politicians and wealthy planters sent their daughters to her, and she spent the summers quietly deprogramming them—teaching them about art, psychology, bodily autonomy, and how racism damages white children's souls just as surely as it hurts Black children.
* **She wrote a mega-bestseller that terrified the establishment:** Her 1944 novel *Strange Fruit*—about an interracial romance and a lynching in a small Georgia town modeled on her childhood home of Jasper, Florida—sold an incredible three million copies. It got banned in Boston for "obscenity" and was even blocked by the U.S. Postal Service until her close friend Eleanor Roosevelt stepped in and got FDR to lift the ban.
* **She hosted secret interracial salons in rural Appalachia:** Alongside her lifelong partner, Paula Snelling, Lillian co-edited the groundbreaking literary magazine *South Today* (publishing legends like W. E. B. Du Bois and a young Pauli Murray) and hosted integrated retreats atop Old Screamer Mountain right under the nose of the KKK.
What I especially liked about Merritt’s approach is that she doesn't put Lillian on a plaster saint pedestal. Earlier biographies danced around Lillian’s personal life, referring to Paula merely as a "close friend". Merritt gives us the real, messy, wonderful truth of their forty-year queer partnership—how they navigated life as "quiet lesbians" in conservative rural Georgia, and how Paula’s steady devotion kept Lillian going. Merritt also lets us see Lillian’s flaws: she could be domineering, jealous, and prickly, and she had zero patience for gradualist white male moderates like Atlanta newspaper editor Ralph McGill (their decades-long feud is fascinating to read about).
I so admired her courage as Lillian in the later chapters as she battled metastatic breast cancer for thirteen brutal years, endured a 134-page FBI file, and watched an arsonist burn down her home in 1955, destroying decades of unpublished manuscripts and letters. Yet she never backed down.
With a moving foreword by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, this book is a fantastic, entertaining and informative read. If you enjoy powerhouse biographies, Southern history, or stories of fearless women who refused to play by the rules of their era, do yourself a favor and pick this one up. Highly, highly recommend!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Before reading An Inconvenient Woman, I had never heard of Lillian Smith. By the time I finished the book, I was left wondering why she isn't more widely known.
I was fascinated by Smith's influence on racial equality and her remarkable insights into racism, white privilege, and the role fear plays in sustaining prejudice. What impressed me most was her ability, as a white Southern woman, to recognize and articulate complexities that many people still struggle to understand today.
I also deeply admired her courage. Despite threats, harassment, and repeated attempts by white supremacists to intimidate her, she refused to be silenced. Time and again, she faced adversity and simply kept going. Equally inspiring was her determination in fighting breast cancer for more than a decade while continuing to write, speak, and advocate for change.
What has stayed with me most since finishing the book is the question of what Lillian Smith would think of today's world. While society has undoubtedly changed since her time, many of the issues she challenged remain with us. I suspect she would be disappointed by how much work remains unfinished, but I also think her voice would still be a powerful force for change.
This biography introduced me to a remarkable woman whose courage, conviction, and willingness to challenge the status quo left a lasting impression on me.
I was fascinated by Smith's influence on racial equality and her remarkable insights into racism, white privilege, and the role fear plays in sustaining prejudice. What impressed me most was her ability, as a white Southern woman, to recognize and articulate complexities that many people still struggle to understand today.
I also deeply admired her courage. Despite threats, harassment, and repeated attempts by white supremacists to intimidate her, she refused to be silenced. Time and again, she faced adversity and simply kept going. Equally inspiring was her determination in fighting breast cancer for more than a decade while continuing to write, speak, and advocate for change.
What has stayed with me most since finishing the book is the question of what Lillian Smith would think of today's world. While society has undoubtedly changed since her time, many of the issues she challenged remain with us. I suspect she would be disappointed by how much work remains unfinished, but I also think her voice would still be a powerful force for change.
This biography introduced me to a remarkable woman whose courage, conviction, and willingness to challenge the status quo left a lasting impression on me.
September 24, 2026
This revealing and well-researched biography tells the story of Lillian Smith (1897–1966), a white woman from the Jim Crow South, who defied expectations by championing equality, running an integrated girls' camp, and editing a liberal magazine with her same-sex partner. Her 1944 bestseller "Strange Fruit" was banned in Boston, drawing threats, arson fires, and FBI attention. Maintaining correspondence with leaders such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr, Smith kept fighting for civil and human rights until her death in 1966. I was pleased to learn about this forgotten anti-segregation advocate and her influence on US history.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
October 28, 2026
I'm appreciative, of an intellectual and progressive from nearby, and going back to this new biography after reading some of Ms. Smith's writing.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Focusing on Southern whites who abhorred treatment of blacks, this book brings to light a fierce white woman, Lillian Smith, who spoke out against injustices, sought to build bridges and imagine a better future for this country.
Smith was born near the end of the 19th C and lived into the Civil Rights era, growing up at a time when the South was in the midst of Jim Crow. As a result she experienced a life in the elite white Southern society of that time. So one of the more interesting things about Lillian Smith were her writings on the theme of Black women raising white children which “became on of the pillars of her psychological critiques of the white South.” She believed this mother substitution explained much about “Southern dysfunction, from sexual repression to identity confusion to a specific type of self-loathing that manifested as hatred against others.” A traumatic story of a white girl taken from a black family moved into town to live with Lillian’s family only to be taken to an orphanage once it was learned the girl was black made her realize as she wrote “I began to see that in trying to shut the Negro race away from us, we have shut ourselves from the good, the creative, the human in life.” After a period of three years in China, she went to write for the Chicago Defender, one of the most popular Black newspaper in the country. She also had to keep her love for Paula Snelling a secret.
There is so much more to this amazing woman’s life. She became an inspiration for many such as the writer Pat Conroy who pointed out Lillian’s “high moral and ethical standards.” After you read about her life you know what a real humanitarian should be. She was in the car with MLK when he was arrested for violation of his parole - this isn’t mentioned in the history books because of the horrible social faux pas of a Black man riding with a white woman. But that’s how Lillian lived - fearless and proud. Her Civil Rights activism rightly should be remembered but he concern for all others should be as well. In her 1961 interview with Studs Terkel he asked her as he asked all he interviewed “who are you?” She replied: “A questioner” which shocked Terkel who conceded that was the best answer he’d ever heard.
Indeed, this biography shows how one Southern woman’s questioning could affect history which is in part why I gave this book five stars. Other reasons for a five star rating include having a biography published in this time of DEI that praises people who choose to point about the benefits of giving opportunities to those different from us. And basically biographies that bring back to life people history may have overlooked in a time where people want to erase so much of our history is important.
My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for granting me access to this wonderful ARC.
Smith was born near the end of the 19th C and lived into the Civil Rights era, growing up at a time when the South was in the midst of Jim Crow. As a result she experienced a life in the elite white Southern society of that time. So one of the more interesting things about Lillian Smith were her writings on the theme of Black women raising white children which “became on of the pillars of her psychological critiques of the white South.” She believed this mother substitution explained much about “Southern dysfunction, from sexual repression to identity confusion to a specific type of self-loathing that manifested as hatred against others.” A traumatic story of a white girl taken from a black family moved into town to live with Lillian’s family only to be taken to an orphanage once it was learned the girl was black made her realize as she wrote “I began to see that in trying to shut the Negro race away from us, we have shut ourselves from the good, the creative, the human in life.” After a period of three years in China, she went to write for the Chicago Defender, one of the most popular Black newspaper in the country. She also had to keep her love for Paula Snelling a secret.
There is so much more to this amazing woman’s life. She became an inspiration for many such as the writer Pat Conroy who pointed out Lillian’s “high moral and ethical standards.” After you read about her life you know what a real humanitarian should be. She was in the car with MLK when he was arrested for violation of his parole - this isn’t mentioned in the history books because of the horrible social faux pas of a Black man riding with a white woman. But that’s how Lillian lived - fearless and proud. Her Civil Rights activism rightly should be remembered but he concern for all others should be as well. In her 1961 interview with Studs Terkel he asked her as he asked all he interviewed “who are you?” She replied: “A questioner” which shocked Terkel who conceded that was the best answer he’d ever heard.
Indeed, this biography shows how one Southern woman’s questioning could affect history which is in part why I gave this book five stars. Other reasons for a five star rating include having a biography published in this time of DEI that praises people who choose to point about the benefits of giving opportunities to those different from us. And basically biographies that bring back to life people history may have overlooked in a time where people want to erase so much of our history is important.
My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for granting me access to this wonderful ARC.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to Keri Leigh Merritt and St. Martin's Press for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Lillian Smith is a not often discussed Civil Rights Movement activist, and I have to admit that before this book, I had never learned of her. What I discovered in the pages of An Inconvenient Woman is the story of a determined queer woman who would not stand by as racism ran rampant. Her literary works challenged a lot of the widely-held beliefs of the area, and I admire how she refused to back down even when essentially blacklisted during McCarthy era Communist scares, and not even allowing a cancer diagnosis to stop her in her activism. I'm curious now to read some of Smith's works myself after finishing this book!
Lillian Smith is a not often discussed Civil Rights Movement activist, and I have to admit that before this book, I had never learned of her. What I discovered in the pages of An Inconvenient Woman is the story of a determined queer woman who would not stand by as racism ran rampant. Her literary works challenged a lot of the widely-held beliefs of the area, and I admire how she refused to back down even when essentially blacklisted during McCarthy era Communist scares, and not even allowing a cancer diagnosis to stop her in her activism. I'm curious now to read some of Smith's works myself after finishing this book!
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
Not my average read, but when I won it on Goodreads Giveaway I was excited. This was SO full of info and I loved it. The author took history and made it so entertaining. Thank you again!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I read Lillian Smith's "Strange Fruit" a few years ago, having come across a reference to it in another book I was reading. I was extremely impressed with her novel and the persuasive case it makes against white supremacy. I knew it was written by a southern white woman but that is all I knew about the author. This excellent biography changed all that. I read it because I was intrigued by the title and subtitle: "An Inconvenient Woman: The Extraordinary Life of Lillian Smith, the Southerner Who Defied Jim Crow America," and didn't initially realize she was the author of "Strange Fruit." This biography is well researched and written in such an engaging manner that I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader copy.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader copy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
An Inconvenient Womanby Keri Keri Leigh Merritt
When one studies American history and the Civil Rights Movement, one does not hear the name Lillian Smith. Born in 1897 to an upper middle-class Southern family, Lil, as she was known, was the seventh of nine children. Her mother is described as distant, and she was raised mainly by Black women who were the family’s help. After her father’s business went sour, the family moved from Florida to the mountains of Georgia, where they operated a summer camp. As a young adult, Lil studied music and pursued teaching; she later returned home to manage a hotel and teach. She also spent time in China.
During her time running the camp, Lil began a relationship with a woman named Paula Snelling. This became a lifelong commitment. Although the pair remained basically closeted throughout their lives, their relationship was not entirely secret. When Lil dove into her writing and began publishing a small quarterly magazine, "Pseudopodia", Paula was her assistant, a role which she maintained throughout her lifetime. The periodical encouraged writers, white and Black, to submit articles about society and ideas for social reform.
Lillian was deeply committed to civil rights. She became friends with Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King. Smith’s novel Strange Fruit, about an interracial relationship, became a best seller. Her book, Killers of the Dream, was a collection of essays that challenged the Old South’s Jim Crow laws, segregation, and ways of treating women and children as well. It was not well received at the time. Nevertheless, she continued to write and to speak out.
While I found this biography to be quite fascinating and enlightening, I also found the chapters to be quite long. There is so much information to take in that I could usually read only one chapter at a time.
What a fascinating, courageous woman! Lillian and Paula endured so much! One can only imagine receiving threatening phone calls, having their home and belongings, including one's life’s work, destroyed by arsonists! And not one or two, but seven bouts with cancer! Yet, she persisted until the very end! How is it that she has remained such an unknown?
4.5 stars rounded up
I received an ARC copy of An Inconvenient Woman. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. My opinions are my own.
When one studies American history and the Civil Rights Movement, one does not hear the name Lillian Smith. Born in 1897 to an upper middle-class Southern family, Lil, as she was known, was the seventh of nine children. Her mother is described as distant, and she was raised mainly by Black women who were the family’s help. After her father’s business went sour, the family moved from Florida to the mountains of Georgia, where they operated a summer camp. As a young adult, Lil studied music and pursued teaching; she later returned home to manage a hotel and teach. She also spent time in China.
During her time running the camp, Lil began a relationship with a woman named Paula Snelling. This became a lifelong commitment. Although the pair remained basically closeted throughout their lives, their relationship was not entirely secret. When Lil dove into her writing and began publishing a small quarterly magazine, "Pseudopodia", Paula was her assistant, a role which she maintained throughout her lifetime. The periodical encouraged writers, white and Black, to submit articles about society and ideas for social reform.
Lillian was deeply committed to civil rights. She became friends with Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King. Smith’s novel Strange Fruit, about an interracial relationship, became a best seller. Her book, Killers of the Dream, was a collection of essays that challenged the Old South’s Jim Crow laws, segregation, and ways of treating women and children as well. It was not well received at the time. Nevertheless, she continued to write and to speak out.
While I found this biography to be quite fascinating and enlightening, I also found the chapters to be quite long. There is so much information to take in that I could usually read only one chapter at a time.
What a fascinating, courageous woman! Lillian and Paula endured so much! One can only imagine receiving threatening phone calls, having their home and belongings, including one's life’s work, destroyed by arsonists! And not one or two, but seven bouts with cancer! Yet, she persisted until the very end! How is it that she has remained such an unknown?
4.5 stars rounded up
I received an ARC copy of An Inconvenient Woman. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. My opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Author
This is a detailed, meticulously researched account of the life and career of a woman who not only wrote the controversial best seller Strange Fruit (1944), but who also bravely became one of the first southern whites to openly advocate for racial equality. She persisted in this at an enormous personal cost, and her story was and remains inspirational. This book provides an unflinching but sensitively written account of her life and career and shows why her story still matters today.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Profound novel. I enjoyed reading biographies and learning about people who have made a difference in history. Hi praise from Pat Conroy and others. LGBT rights and the struggles she went through. Thank you St. Martins press for the arc.
October 3, 2026
Thank you St. Martin’s Press for providing an ARC for review consideration via NetGalley! All opinions are my own.
I had not heard of Lillian Smith before reading this book. Some of this may be because her writings and activism occurred in the 1930s and 1940s—well before the peak of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, which we more often learn about. However, reading this also laid bare that I need to make a more concerted effort to dig up a true account of the Civil War and Reconstruction. This book not only provided a full background of Smith’s life’s work, but it also introduced many other authors from this era whose firsthand accounts I now want to read.
Smith was a cultured and privileged White Southern woman who spent her life speaking up about racism, fighting for integration, and championing social equality for all. She was very frank when speaking to other White people, promoting an open dialogue. She didn’t just say things were wrong and that everyone was suffering because of it; instead, she championed real-world, non-violent solutions.
She was well ahead of her time, doing things that often resulted in her being stigmatized, ostracized, and placed in physical danger. When she took over her father’s summer camp, she ensured it expanded its offerings to drama, writing, art, and modern dance. She also provided a progressive education by discussing and answering questions about racism, hypocrisy, and White supremacy. Lillian knew these topics were never broached with children, and she believed that without open and honest dialogue, hatred would prevail unchallenged.
Throughout the years, Lillian and her partner, Paula Snelling, held bi-racial gatherings at the camp on Old Screamer Mountain. This was one of the actions that made them most vulnerable to White rage, but like everything, Smith refused to back down from her beliefs. These parties and dinners were crucial in fostering racial reconciliation. They served as a safe place to talk, share ideas about strategy, and organize, bringing together some of the most brilliant Americans of the time.
Additionally, she and Paula founded a nationally known literary magazine that featured everything from poetry and essays to short stories and interviews, tackling topics ignored by mainstream journalism. With subscriptions peaking near 10,000, the magazine reached people throughout the U.S. to spark vital discussions. It was the only White-owned Southern magazine at the time to include writing by Black authors, as well as reviews by Black critics of White writing. They were also among the few publications actively seeking out and giving a platform to women writers. To build this community, she and Paula traveled throughout the region, talking to thousands of people whose stories ultimately made it into the magazine. Smith also wrote a number of books, including Strange Fruit, Killers of the Dream, and The Journey. While they were well-received, they also created intense turmoil and bans.
It’s sad to me how little has changed. Had a reader not known when this all took place, they might be surprised to learn it happened nearly 100 years ago. Some of the quotes could be peeled directly from today’s news pages:
“Every time poor Whites made even the modest of gains elite whites used censorship, oppression, violence, and fear to harden the racist color line. Whenever elite Whites worried about remaining in complete control, they simply had to portray to Black Americans as people who took things away.”
And:
“We shall not be believed abroad while we daily kill the dream at home.” (From Vincent Sheean's review of Killers of the Dream, which was reprinted by Eleanor Roosevelt in her newspaper column).
Yet, the book is also encouraging and inspiring. It teaches us to be uncompromising in our beliefs, to push back incessantly against foot-dragging and the excuse that societal change is slow, and to give back something equal to or better than what has been taken away when a racist identity is stripped from those who carry it. Readers can take many of Smith’s methods for making connections and enacting creative change and implement them in the current time. “We must remember that demagogues fatten on the poor man’s vote and his loneliness, that they use the psychotic to do their dirty work, but they exist because we liberals let them exist. It is our caution, our lack of energy, our moral impotence and our awful, if unconscious, snobbery that makes demagoguery unafraid of liberalism.”
An Inconvenient Woman contained a great analysis, pulled together a mass of excerpts, and gave a vivid picture of Smith’s life. The only issue I had was there was a lot of repetition. It may have been advantageous to report it in a chronological manner. Because the book jumped back and forth in time, many quotes and moments were repeated multiple times in varying degrees and ways. Other than this minor note, I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to learn about an individual who was so influential in many areas of education and equality, yet has been left out of the narrative.
Read more of my book reviews here...
https://fortandfield.blogspot.com/202...
I had not heard of Lillian Smith before reading this book. Some of this may be because her writings and activism occurred in the 1930s and 1940s—well before the peak of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, which we more often learn about. However, reading this also laid bare that I need to make a more concerted effort to dig up a true account of the Civil War and Reconstruction. This book not only provided a full background of Smith’s life’s work, but it also introduced many other authors from this era whose firsthand accounts I now want to read.
Smith was a cultured and privileged White Southern woman who spent her life speaking up about racism, fighting for integration, and championing social equality for all. She was very frank when speaking to other White people, promoting an open dialogue. She didn’t just say things were wrong and that everyone was suffering because of it; instead, she championed real-world, non-violent solutions.
She was well ahead of her time, doing things that often resulted in her being stigmatized, ostracized, and placed in physical danger. When she took over her father’s summer camp, she ensured it expanded its offerings to drama, writing, art, and modern dance. She also provided a progressive education by discussing and answering questions about racism, hypocrisy, and White supremacy. Lillian knew these topics were never broached with children, and she believed that without open and honest dialogue, hatred would prevail unchallenged.
Throughout the years, Lillian and her partner, Paula Snelling, held bi-racial gatherings at the camp on Old Screamer Mountain. This was one of the actions that made them most vulnerable to White rage, but like everything, Smith refused to back down from her beliefs. These parties and dinners were crucial in fostering racial reconciliation. They served as a safe place to talk, share ideas about strategy, and organize, bringing together some of the most brilliant Americans of the time.
Additionally, she and Paula founded a nationally known literary magazine that featured everything from poetry and essays to short stories and interviews, tackling topics ignored by mainstream journalism. With subscriptions peaking near 10,000, the magazine reached people throughout the U.S. to spark vital discussions. It was the only White-owned Southern magazine at the time to include writing by Black authors, as well as reviews by Black critics of White writing. They were also among the few publications actively seeking out and giving a platform to women writers. To build this community, she and Paula traveled throughout the region, talking to thousands of people whose stories ultimately made it into the magazine. Smith also wrote a number of books, including Strange Fruit, Killers of the Dream, and The Journey. While they were well-received, they also created intense turmoil and bans.
It’s sad to me how little has changed. Had a reader not known when this all took place, they might be surprised to learn it happened nearly 100 years ago. Some of the quotes could be peeled directly from today’s news pages:
“Every time poor Whites made even the modest of gains elite whites used censorship, oppression, violence, and fear to harden the racist color line. Whenever elite Whites worried about remaining in complete control, they simply had to portray to Black Americans as people who took things away.”
And:
“We shall not be believed abroad while we daily kill the dream at home.” (From Vincent Sheean's review of Killers of the Dream, which was reprinted by Eleanor Roosevelt in her newspaper column).
Yet, the book is also encouraging and inspiring. It teaches us to be uncompromising in our beliefs, to push back incessantly against foot-dragging and the excuse that societal change is slow, and to give back something equal to or better than what has been taken away when a racist identity is stripped from those who carry it. Readers can take many of Smith’s methods for making connections and enacting creative change and implement them in the current time. “We must remember that demagogues fatten on the poor man’s vote and his loneliness, that they use the psychotic to do their dirty work, but they exist because we liberals let them exist. It is our caution, our lack of energy, our moral impotence and our awful, if unconscious, snobbery that makes demagoguery unafraid of liberalism.”
An Inconvenient Woman contained a great analysis, pulled together a mass of excerpts, and gave a vivid picture of Smith’s life. The only issue I had was there was a lot of repetition. It may have been advantageous to report it in a chronological manner. Because the book jumped back and forth in time, many quotes and moments were repeated multiple times in varying degrees and ways. Other than this minor note, I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to learn about an individual who was so influential in many areas of education and equality, yet has been left out of the narrative.
Read more of my book reviews here...
https://fortandfield.blogspot.com/202...
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I believe I’ve heard of Lillian Smith before, but only as a brief mention amongst more well documented Civil Rights leaders, so Keri Leigh Merritt’s An Inconvenient Woman was an introduction for me to her.
I wonder if she is not better known because she was primarily known for her writing, and some of her more high profile pieces came before the Civil Rights movement really started gaining momentum. Maybe it was because she was a white woman and it was more impactful seeing Black people in public, peacefully protesting.
I think her advocacy for desegregation and equality between races was a crucial factor in the movement, showing that someone not experiencing the overt discrimination and racism wanted to see the end of it for the better good of everyone.
I think she was right in her belief that racism does harm to everyone, not just the people on the receiving end of it. It did seem like she didn’t always fully express that what she saw did more harm to Black people than it did to white people, but that could be purely my interpretation of Merritt’s writing.
At points Smith also seems to view it as a Southern problem and that input or advocacy by people not from the South would not always be appreciated as someone unfamiliar with deep rooted issues. Undeniably the racism and segregation was the worst in the Deep South, and there WERE people who were using getting involved for their own reasons and not to fix a deep rooted issues. But racism and segregation were an issue nationwide and still aren’t gone.
Reading this, I was impressed with Lillian’s passion to live her life as she saw fit, which included being in a relationship with Paula Snelling decades before queer relationships were openly accepted, and saying what she thought, knowing full well that her thoughts were nowhere close to universally shared or accepted.
Despite having viewpoints that are now generally accepted to be right, she did not seem overly open minded to other points of view. This is fair when those views are diametrically opposed, but probably did her a disservice in other circumstances. She was not always kind to her partner Paula, who she relied on heavily to be a calming and steady presence in her life. And for someone so steadfast and confident in her beliefs she could be remarkably thin skinned and desirous of public approval.
I admire Lillian Smith for standing up for what she knew to be right, but I felt like despite her being a firebrand, the book felt dry, and while it probably presented her pretty accurately, it wasn’t always flattering. There were points where it got too in the weeds about each of her books, and despite Merritt arguing that a previous biography about Smith jumped around in time, she periodically does it as well in this book.
The book is heavily cited, giving no doubt to the credibility of the content, but I think this also causes the book to drag in ways that a more narrative biography would not.
A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I wonder if she is not better known because she was primarily known for her writing, and some of her more high profile pieces came before the Civil Rights movement really started gaining momentum. Maybe it was because she was a white woman and it was more impactful seeing Black people in public, peacefully protesting.
I think her advocacy for desegregation and equality between races was a crucial factor in the movement, showing that someone not experiencing the overt discrimination and racism wanted to see the end of it for the better good of everyone.
I think she was right in her belief that racism does harm to everyone, not just the people on the receiving end of it. It did seem like she didn’t always fully express that what she saw did more harm to Black people than it did to white people, but that could be purely my interpretation of Merritt’s writing.
At points Smith also seems to view it as a Southern problem and that input or advocacy by people not from the South would not always be appreciated as someone unfamiliar with deep rooted issues. Undeniably the racism and segregation was the worst in the Deep South, and there WERE people who were using getting involved for their own reasons and not to fix a deep rooted issues. But racism and segregation were an issue nationwide and still aren’t gone.
Reading this, I was impressed with Lillian’s passion to live her life as she saw fit, which included being in a relationship with Paula Snelling decades before queer relationships were openly accepted, and saying what she thought, knowing full well that her thoughts were nowhere close to universally shared or accepted.
Despite having viewpoints that are now generally accepted to be right, she did not seem overly open minded to other points of view. This is fair when those views are diametrically opposed, but probably did her a disservice in other circumstances. She was not always kind to her partner Paula, who she relied on heavily to be a calming and steady presence in her life. And for someone so steadfast and confident in her beliefs she could be remarkably thin skinned and desirous of public approval.
I admire Lillian Smith for standing up for what she knew to be right, but I felt like despite her being a firebrand, the book felt dry, and while it probably presented her pretty accurately, it wasn’t always flattering. There were points where it got too in the weeds about each of her books, and despite Merritt arguing that a previous biography about Smith jumped around in time, she periodically does it as well in this book.
The book is heavily cited, giving no doubt to the credibility of the content, but I think this also causes the book to drag in ways that a more narrative biography would not.
A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Keri Leigh Merritt (author), and Netgalley for the digital review copy of An Inconvenient Woman. Their generosity did not influence my review.
Inconvenient to whom, exactly? To everyone, depending on your definition.
To be inconvenient is to cause trouble, difficulty, or annoyance. Insects are inconvenient, but did she annoyingly buzz around like a fly? Or did she destroy foundations like a termite? The rest of the title refers to her defiance of privilege, and that is also a strong word meaning to boldly resist or stand strong against. Keri Leigh Merritt’s biography of Lillian Smith shows a woman who spent her life doing both—providing a masterclass in all the ways Lillian became an inconvenience to others who tried to deny racial equality.
Privilege isn’t just about money and race; it can also be having a supportive family baseline that lets you break from social and religious dogma without completely flapping in the wind. As an educated, wealthy Southern white woman, Smith had every door open to her. Instead of using that upbringing to become a celebrated "leader" who demanded the spotlight, she chose to be a public servant. She brought her name, money, and influence to causes led by Black activists, never trying to take over their efforts. The Civil Rights movement was not about her, and she didn't care if history books remembered her name.
I keep imagining her standing on a soapbox, shouting at the top of her lungs to draw every hostile eye in the South directly to her, while Black men and women snuck by safe and undetected.
That level of agitation came with a constant threat of death. Living as a non-believing, anti-racist lesbian in the Jim Crow South meant living in perpetual danger. Yet Smith never opted for an easier path. Even during her final months while fighting unrelenting cancer, she spent her energy reminding friends of their own individual power to change the world in small ways.
If there is a flaw here, it’s that the book feels textbook-ish, much like a detailed, well-researched Wikipedia entry. There is a lot to learn and admire, but not much to connect with. Yet, the author’s hands were largely tied when trying to foster that connection for readers. Smith didn't leave behind intimate, tell-all diaries for safety reasons. You cannot look into her private inner thoughts because she couldn't afford to record them. In protecting her partner and her work, she inadvertently backshelved her own personal interiority so that others could be pushed forward.
The choice of an academic biography over historical speculation does not give a warm, intimate life story. It informs far more than it deeply moves, but it remains a vital, necessary, factual reference for a forgotten influencer who always spotlighted the issues rather than herself. 4.25 stars
Inconvenient to whom, exactly? To everyone, depending on your definition.
To be inconvenient is to cause trouble, difficulty, or annoyance. Insects are inconvenient, but did she annoyingly buzz around like a fly? Or did she destroy foundations like a termite? The rest of the title refers to her defiance of privilege, and that is also a strong word meaning to boldly resist or stand strong against. Keri Leigh Merritt’s biography of Lillian Smith shows a woman who spent her life doing both—providing a masterclass in all the ways Lillian became an inconvenience to others who tried to deny racial equality.
Privilege isn’t just about money and race; it can also be having a supportive family baseline that lets you break from social and religious dogma without completely flapping in the wind. As an educated, wealthy Southern white woman, Smith had every door open to her. Instead of using that upbringing to become a celebrated "leader" who demanded the spotlight, she chose to be a public servant. She brought her name, money, and influence to causes led by Black activists, never trying to take over their efforts. The Civil Rights movement was not about her, and she didn't care if history books remembered her name.
I keep imagining her standing on a soapbox, shouting at the top of her lungs to draw every hostile eye in the South directly to her, while Black men and women snuck by safe and undetected.
That level of agitation came with a constant threat of death. Living as a non-believing, anti-racist lesbian in the Jim Crow South meant living in perpetual danger. Yet Smith never opted for an easier path. Even during her final months while fighting unrelenting cancer, she spent her energy reminding friends of their own individual power to change the world in small ways.
If there is a flaw here, it’s that the book feels textbook-ish, much like a detailed, well-researched Wikipedia entry. There is a lot to learn and admire, but not much to connect with. Yet, the author’s hands were largely tied when trying to foster that connection for readers. Smith didn't leave behind intimate, tell-all diaries for safety reasons. You cannot look into her private inner thoughts because she couldn't afford to record them. In protecting her partner and her work, she inadvertently backshelved her own personal interiority so that others could be pushed forward.
The choice of an academic biography over historical speculation does not give a warm, intimate life story. It informs far more than it deeply moves, but it remains a vital, necessary, factual reference for a forgotten influencer who always spotlighted the issues rather than herself. 4.25 stars
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Probably 3.5 stars Thanks to netgalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own. This is a book that tells the history and story of a woman I’ve never heard of-friends with people like Martin Luther King, Jr, a white woman who worked tirelessly to end segregation, and an acclaimed author-what a shame I didn’t know her story until now! I was truly intrigued when I read this description and the beginning of the novel. She made an important impact in history and the literary world and is an amazing example of an early LGBTQ person kicking some butt, even if much of that part of her life was not as public at the time. While I’m glad I read it and feel this info about her is so important, there were some concerns I had about the novel itself, which is why I took off some stars. First, the chapters were very long and sometimes hard to find good pausing points. The order of the information itself was confusing-I’d be reading where it referenced her novel Strange Fruit, then shorty, after, sometimes in the same chapter, it would go back to before the book was published. I felt like it would have been easier to read if it focused in time order. It would also focus on her personal life then jump to civil rights then jump to her writing-I had a hard time keeping things straight and knowing when in her life things were occurring. I wanted more info about civil rights work to be honest, but I had to slog through lots of personal quotes and details about her sexuality or personal life to get there. I get that was a focus and important, but I think I would get interested in a topic and then lose it. It made me take some breaks and go to another book to build myself up to come back. There was a lot of talk of the fires but no details until later on. The ending and last chapter was probably the clearest and most chronological one. Also, I added her one first big novel to my to-read list and then removed it shortly after because there was such a detailed summary of it there was really no need to read it because all the twist were spoiled! Lastly, this is a petty complaint, but the term “overstated” was used a lot as in, “the influence of blah blah can’t be overstated.” Well, the term overstated sure can. Overall, valuable info and story but just needed some organization and better worrying/editing for the masses, I think.
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