A. J. Smitherman

Andrew Jackson Smitherman (December 1883 - June 1961) was an American lawyer, journalist, and civil rights activist. Smitherman began his journalism career in 1908 in Muskogee, Oklahoma where he wrote for the Muskogee Cimiter before founding the Muskogee Star in 1912. He later founded the Tulsa Star after moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1913. Smitherman was a community leader of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma until the Tulsa Race Massacre. After the massacre, Smitherman was falsely His family moved to Indian Territory when he was a child. After finishing secondary school, he attended the University of Kansas and Northwestern University. He earned his Juris Doctor from La Salle University and studied in Chicago and Boston.

Journalism Smitherman began his journalism career at William Twine's Muskogee Cimiter in 1908. In 1919, he was selected as a delegate to meet Woodrow Wilson during his visit to Oklahoma City.

Death and legacy Smitherman died in Buffalo, New York in June 1961 and is buried in Mt. Calvary Cemetery. He was posthumously inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2020–2021.