When photojournalist Rudolph “Rudy” Smith Sr. joined the staff of The Omaha World-Herald in 1964, he became the first African American to work in the News Department. Since then, his photographs have reached national and international audiences through the pages of Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Newsday, Life, Time, and Ebony, among others. The winner of more than 50 awards for excellence in photography, Mr. Smith is widely known as a “community catalyst” for his efforts on behalf of North Omaha and the metropolitan Omaha community. As a student leader at the University of Nebraska/Omaha, Mr. Smith helped establish UNO’s Department of Black Studies and introduced legislation to remove discriminatory housing practices near campus. He later became the first African American faculty member in the UNO Department of Communications and served as an instructor there for many years. Mr. Smith helped develop scholarship programs for minority students as well as a training program to improve business opportunities for women and minorities across Nebraska. Mr. Smith served as chair of the State Affirmative Action Committee throughout the terms of four Nebraska governors. In partnership with the NAACP, Mr. Smith developed initiatives to support youth and university students, to improve police-and-community relations and to increase jobs for minorities in trade unions and restaurants. In collaboration with the Great Plains Black Museum, Mr. Smith published Visions of the Great Plains, History of Blacks in Nebraska from 1865. He is a co-creator of Discover Omaha, a board game used in Omaha schools. Mr. Smith has been honored with the UNO Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award and was the only photojournalist ever inducted into the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame.
Rudy passed away in 2019 at the age of 74.