"From the Bayou to the Bay is in part a seminar on the depth, breadth, and concentration a scholar must expend to be ranked as a pre-eminent thinker in a major academic discipline. This book lays bare the distinction between talking the talk, and walking the walk. Robert C. Smith, for the good of us all, has mastered both." — David Covin, Sacramento State University"An inherently fascinating and impressive account of an extraordinary life of equally extraordinary achievements played out in times of social turmoil and cultural conflict, From the Bayou to the Bay is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college and university library Contemporary African American Biography collections and African American Demographic Studies curriculum reading lists." — Midwest Book Review"From the Bayou to the Bay is an engaging and accessible 'coming-of-age' memoir by one of the nation's preeminent scholars of Black politics." — Charles E. Jones, University of Cincinnati