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title="Barbara Ellen Smith"
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![Barbara Ellen Smith](https://wikitia.com/wiki/Barbara_Ellen_Smith) (born December 3, 1951) is an American author, activist, and educator. Smith is known for her involvement and writing about social justice in Appalachia, particularly the Black lung movement and advocacy for coal miners. Her most recent book (*Appalachia and the Health of the Nation*), an updated edition to her 1987 published dissertation, focuses on the decline of the coal industry in Appalachia, the economic and health crises coal miners face, and what the future looks like in terms of environmental justice. After relocating to West Virginia, she worked closely with the Black Lung Association (BLA), and she was volunteering at the time of the Buffalo Creek Disaster in 1972. Prior to her teaching career, Smith served as Director of Research and Education at the Southeast Women's Employment Coalition (SWEC) in Lexington, Kentucky, and as a Board member for the Highlander Research and Education Center. It was at this period that she became interested in women's and gender issues, of which she has a long list of written contributions.

A scholar of Women's and Gender Studies and Appalachian Studies for more than 40 years,[4] Smith was Director of the Women's Studies Program and the Director of the Center for Research on Women at the University of Memphis. She started teaching at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 2005 and eventually became Director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program, which has since transitioned into the Department of Sociology.