Owen L. W. Smith

Owen Lun West Smith (May 18, 1851 – January 5, 1926) was an American minister and diplomat of the United States. He served as minister to Liberia from 1898-1902.

Biography Smith was born into slavery in Giddensville, Sampson County, North Carolina, on May 18, 1851. At the start of the Civil War, he would follow the Confederate army while serving as a personal servant. Later on, however, he would enlist in the Union Army and go on to fight in the Battle of Bentonville.

After becoming a freedman, Smith worked as a teacher before getting a scholarship to attend the University of South Carolina from 1874 to 1876. Following his conversion, he would go on to receive an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Livingstone College in 1883.

Smith died on January 5, 1926, in Wilson, North Carolina, where he was later buried.