Michael Smith Shares His Black & Irish Story: “To this day, we retain our Irish identities and connections.”

By Cíara Emmanuel

April 7th, 2025

Michael celebrates St. Patrick's Day in 2024 enjoying an Irish breakfast with his mother, oldest son and family, sister and husband, niece, and partner, her son, and her son’s fiancé.

Born of an Irish mother from County Kerry, Ireland and an African American father in the 1950s, Michael Smith’s parents met while both working for a prominent American family in Mount Coote, County Limerick Ireland. Returning to the States after six months in Ireland, the couple worked in Middleburg, Virginia for two years while they clandestinely dated. The two eventually married, going on to move to Washington, DC—given anti-miscegenation laws at the time—and have two beautiful children. “My sister and I frequently returned to County Kerry for summer visits with our grandmother and other family members,” shares Smith, remembering his early childhood. “To this day, we retain our Irish identities and connections.” 

Pictures of Michael, his mother, great grandmother, great aunt in Dublin in 1958 and Michael’s mother, her aunt and cousin.

"As a grade school student at a Catholic elementary school in DC,” Michael shares, “being the only two [black students], my sister wearing Shamrocks and green to school on St. Patrick's Day raised eyebrows from the nuns for being out of uniform—and curiosity from the other students!”

Remembering the summer visits he would take to Ireland, Michael reminisces “attending Puck Fair Aonach an Phoic (Gaelic) in County Kerry, [where he and his family] saw the festivities and excitement of the festival—which is one of Ireland's oldest and unusual festivals—held yearly in Killorglin, County Kerry. A goat is crowned "King Puck" and reigns for 3 days in the town," he adds.

A native Washingtonian and notable interviewee of the We Are Georgetown: Celebrating our Black History Oral History project sponsored by the Black Alumni Council (of which Smith himself was an original founding member), Michael recalls his local journey to Georgetown (Class of ‘78): ”So I'm like 15 years old. I'm looking at the Healy building and I'm kind of in awe of the campus. [...] I looked up who Patrick Healy was, and it was interesting that his father was an Irishman that came to Georgia, married an African woman—although they technically were not married. Patrick Healy and his older siblings all became Jesuit priests and that helped them to pass, if you will. Patrick Healy never acknowledged being biracial, but I am biracial. My mother's from Ireland and my father was African American.”

This spark of recognition ignited an enduring curiosity in Michael, eventually leading the young pupil towards a major in Psychology at Georgetown University in 1974. ”As a commuter student, initially in the basement of Old North, there was a commuter lounge. So that's kind of where I would hang out between classes. And it wasn’t until like the end of the freshman year, somebody said, Mike, you know, there's The Black House. I was like, What's the Black house? They're like, What? You don't know about The Black House! Boy, what's wrong with you?”

The Black House of Georgetown University, founded by the Black Student Alliance in 1968.

Finding out about The Black House at Georgetown opened doors both literal and figurative for Michael. Known on campus as a protected place for students to study and hang out in peace, The Black House was initially founded in 1968 after a protest was staged in front of the University president’s office by the Black Student Alliance (BSA) with three demands: “First, they wanted to increase the percentage of minority students that were accepted into Georgetown. Secondly, they wanted the university to invest in creating a support system that monitored and tracked minorities that did enroll at the university. Finally, they urged the university to provide a space where Black students could congregate to socialize or talk about pertinent issues of the day. That space became the ‘Black House.’” - Georgetown University, Center for Multicultural Community and Access (2025)

“You know, it was really a safe space for us to just gather; there was meetings; there was a lot of partying. You know, some of us, sometimes we were upstairs in one of the rooms playing Bid Whist, and all that kind of good stuff.” In Smith’s day, the basement of Healy Hall was a student center, proving an additional place of support for the community. Notably featuring Soul Night on Thursday nights, Michael warmly recalls friends Ken Brown and Alton Adams DJing for the celebratory events.

”The other thing, unfortunately for me, being a native Washingtonian and coming from parents who neither completed high school, [is] I'm a first generation college student, as is my sister. I worked. And so, I worked at Safeway.” Many times, directly after class, Michael would run to the bathroom, hurriedly change into his uniform, and hop in his ‘67 Malibu to drive from campus to work. “[It] was always a bit of a challenge, but luckily, I was successful in doing that.”

Something of a full circle moment for the Washington-based family, Michael’s son Jonathan also graduated from Georgetown. “I was delighted and honored that Jonathan decided to go [...]. Although, a quick funny story about that. Initially he was like, you know, I don't ever want to be anywhere near you and Mom. You know, I'm going to go to like Stanford or Duke. We're like, okay, cool. Go, get out of the house, go see the world. But then his senior year, he's like, I'm really interested in Georgetown.” The rest was history. “You know, for me, Georgetown is very special. I mean, my my late wife was born there, having my son. and matter of fact, Jonathan was born in Georgetown Hospital. My dad unfortunately passed away at Georgetown Hospital. So I always say truly, I bleed Hoya Blue.”

Michael visits the EPIC Museum, highlighting the name "Horgan" - his mother's father's lineage.

Not only known on campus as one of the founding members of the Georgetown University Alumni Advisory Board, now known as the Black Alumni Council (BAC),  Michael Smith was also the director of the Employee Assistance Program at American University, where he got to know and meet the late Dr. Eileen Fenrich, who was the director of Georgetown's Employee Assistance Program. 

Eileen offered Michael a position leading to his return back to campus in 1996, where he worked for two years with Dr. Fenrich doing employee assistance program work. Then within the Faculty Staff Assistance Program, they ended up migrating to the university’s Office of Diversity Equity and Affirmative Action, spearheading work in diversity, including Title IX and Title VII, until his retirement from the university in 2020. “Hopefully,” beams Smith, “students of color are really feeling a sense of belongingness now at the university.”

A vital supporter of our community, Michael recalls his introduction to the African American Irish Diaspora Network (AAIDN): “It might have been either late 2023 or early 2024, as I was preparing to register and attend Georgetown University's annual John Carroll weekend which was taking place in Dublin in April. I stumbled upon a reference to an African American and Irish organization and was intrigued that AAIDN seeks to make a connection, and lift up the voices of the rich tapestry, of these two ethnic backgrounds. As someone who has been unabashedly proud of being biracial and a Black Irishman, I wanted to learn more and join the effort."

Inspired and heart-led, Michael leaves young people of the Black & Irish diaspora who may be curious or conflicted about their identity with some courageous words of advice: "Again,” he says, “there is a rich tapestry of interconnections of Black and Irish throughout the world. Despite efforts to erase DEI and identities, it is vital to be true to oneself by claiming one's entire and authentic self by acknowledging and celebrating a rich multiracial and cultural background like being Black and Irish!"

Black and Irish wall mural in Dublin, captured by Michael.