He has made nearly $1 million in political donations since 2011, with his largest being a $500K gift to the Black Alliance PAC, according to the Federal Election Commission’s database, a group currently fighting for the Senate to end its filibuster to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Smith is also a major donor to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Chairman of Carnegie Hall and the Chairman of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, according to his website.
The 2019 donation to Morehouse College’s graduating class of nearly 400 cost him $34 million.
“It was really emotional because when I tell you the immense feeling of sadness I felt that year prior to [graduation],” 2019 Morehouse graduate Qualon Bobbitt, and member of attorney Mawuli Davis’ Black Man Lab, told rolling out in October 2021.
In 2018, Bobbitt found the week of graduation he had to take one more class that wasn’t available until spring 2019.
“That was hard going through that year trying to figure out how am I gonna get this money? All the jobs I applied for [between 2018 and 2019] needed a bachelor’s degree,” Bobbitt said.
“I had about $17,000 in debt, which is a good amount of money, but there were some people in that class who had over $200,00 and were going into med school.”
