ERMINNIE SMITH

In 1876, Smith established the Aesthetic Society of Jersey City at a time when women were largely excluded from formal scientific circles. Hosting lectures on science, literature, and philosophy, Smith helped establish the neighborhood as a hub for intellectual activity. Notably, Oscar Wilde spoke at one of the society's meetings in June 1882.

Just a few decades later, in 1915, the Frederick Douglass Film Company set up nearby, continuing the area's legacy as a place where marginalized voices could build their own platforms.

Smith was one of the most influential thinkers of the 19th century. She was the first woman inducted into the American Academy of Sciences and the first female Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences in 1877. She is also recognized as the first woman to specialize in ethnographic fieldwork. While other anthropologists conducted their studies from the safety of libraries, Smith believed in the importance of immersion.

Smith’s most significant intellectual contribution came through her work with the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Nation). Between 1880 and 1885, she lived among the Tuscarora tribe, compiling over 15,000 words of the Iroquois dialect and preserving their oral histories in her seminal 1883 work, Myths of the Iroquois.