Larry Wade elected as first African American president of Smith County Historical Society

Published 5:45 am Saturday, January 14, 2023

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Larry Wade said his upbringing as a young African American boy in Tyler led to his accomplishments today.

“My parents raised us to be highly dedicated to work,” Wade said.



Starting with his mother being the first to go to college, focusing on becoming a teacher, Wade found inspiration and support from his family, especially when it came to furthering his education.

“I am very fortunate to grow up in a home where we talked to each other a lot,” Wade said.

In addition to familial support, Wade and his brothers had a lot of leaders to look up to — at school, church and even the Boys Scouts, where he became one of the first Black Eagle Scouts.

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On Jan. 3 in an unanimous decision, the Smith County Historical Society elected Wade as president, making him the first African American president in the organization’s history.

“I just want to make sure the society is on the right track,” Wade said. “This is one of my biggest honors. I am indeed grateful for this opportunity at this point in my life.”

His responsibilities include overseeing budgets, setting policies and to give guidance to the historical society.

“I want to have a good close working relationship with the board,” Wade said, “to keep it moving forward and staying strong.”

Wade is no stranger in paving the way for the local African American community, as in 2018 he was the first African American to be elected into the historical society’s board.

Wade has been a part of Smith County Historical Society off and on for more than 20 years.

“They welcomed me and made me feel so at home,” Wade said.

Not only did they make him feel at home, Wade said he never felt he was any different from his peers.

“There was no racism, disrespect toward me or anything like that,” said Wade. “I never felt out of place.”

In fact, it was local historian icon Mary Jane McNamara who encouraged him to contribute toward the town’s Black history.

“She told me we need more Black history,” Wade said of the late McNamara. “But it was a lot of hard work.”

During his own genealogical search, Wade uncovered much of his family’s history — a task he was proud of being able to do before his parents passed on.

“We need to pass on as much history as we can to the next generation,” Wade said.

Wade has taken his passion to greater heights by starting more historical societies for African Americans, such as the Tyler/Smith County African American Historical Society.

“We need to continue preserving history,” Wade said, “and that can be through items for the museum, documents of genealogy and even newspapers.”

A longtime supporter of the Tyler Morning Telegraph, he was encouraged by his parents to be involved with the news and stay up to date on the community.

Wade is also part of the paper’s community advisory board, which involves meeting quarterly to provide perspective and input with the editors and editorial staff members.

Wade sees the Smith County Historical Society as an opportunity to work together as a team and be progressive, especially seeing as how times have changed.

He wants people to know youth are welcome to join the society. Wade hopes to have more inclusion and get more programs to educate and enlighten the younger generation.

Using his 40-plus years as an educator, he hopes as the society’s president to implement field trips to other museums and historical sites in other locations.

“Young people should learn their history, learn about where they came from,” Wade said, “and be proud of it.”