New Smith book covers Potpourri of subjects, including integration of RHS

Algie Ray Smith of Russellville is a writer, storyteller, educator, businessman and vehicle service provider. Even more, he’s a philosopher.

In his newest book, Potpourri, Smith uses his storytelling skills to convey his philosophy on a myriad of social issues.

Sandwiched in between is a fascinating look back at the integration of a small town high school. The school is unnamed, as is the town, but this is unmistakably Russellville in the mid-50s.

On the back cover of the paperback book, Smith explains that potpourri comes from a French term which today has come to mean “a mixture, a medley, a variety of things put together.” The book is a mixture of short stories, a novelette and essays.

In the beginning 112 pages, Smith tells tales showing what can go wrong with the Affordable Health Care Act, obesity, the welfare system, well-meaning charity, reporting wrong-doing, food stamps, special education and other subjects dealing with the relationships between people who have money and those who don’t, those who work and those who don’t, and those who give and those who take.

In the last section, he discusses raising the minimum wage, child abuse, modern mythology and Taoists. A language arts teacher who has instructed students in the English language from middle school through college, Smith has one chapter in Potpourri on “Nouns are Not Verbs” and another on “Down on the Farm Language.”

The section which will be of great interest to Russellvillians and social historians—which he calls a novelette—is entitled “The Fall of ’56.” That was Smith’s sophomore year at Russellville High School. It also was the year that the all-black Knob City High School was integrated into all-white RHS.

The novelette begins with a summer meeting of the school board with parents of Knob City students who would be transferring to their new high school that fall. The parents express their misgivings, their happiness with things as they have been, and their fears for their children as they enter a new world.

Like the Russellville board, the one in the book was proactive, entering into integration before it was required. Russellville’s integration came about a decade before neighboring counties closed their schools that had been reserved for African American youngsters. Overall, the transition went smoothly.

In the booklet, the superintendent (Mr. Roberts in the book, Robert E. Stevenson in Russellville), the principal (Mr. Watson/B.H. Weaver), the football coach (Coach Huffman/Harold Hunter), the English teacher (Mrs. Rawls/Ruth Carpenter) and the social studies teacher (Mrs. Jackson/Helen Carpenter) all try to smooth the transition.

The new students are bused to school with a police escort on that first day, but it proves to be unnecessary.

Problems come from how African Americans are treated at businesses, especially on road trips. Interracial dating also is frowned upon by both races.

In his other stories involving his community and his family, Smith calls the character who represents him ‘Joey,’ but in this book, his alter ego is Sanchez Rhea. Also recognizable as Russellvillians are football star Charles “Bam Bam” Wells (Charles Lewis) and football captains Ken Simmons and Henry Drake (Ken Smith and James Henry Duncan).

Near the end of the book, Sanchez Rhea envisions his beloved grandson winning a game for the football Panthers. Ray Smith has a special relationship with his grandson, Brandon Rowe, who is a gifted athlete.

Smith dedicates the book to “two pioneers of the RHS Class of 1959, Henry Bell Ashby and Lillie Grinter Herndon.”

This is the sixteenth book in the series which Smith writes and publishes each fall. They generally sell out quickly.

The art work on the cover and inside is by local artist Sonny Green. Any of his art works can be purchased at 613 Russell Street in Russellville.

To purchase a copy of Potpourri, go to Riley-White Drugs on Carrico Park Square or Smith & Sons Service at the intersection of Highways 68-80, 100 and 79 at Russellville’s East End.

To order a copy, send $10 to Algie Ray Smith, 917 Sunset Lane, Russellville, KY 42276.