About: James Carmichael Smith (postmaster)

James Carmichael Smith (1852 - after 1914) was a postmaster in the Bahamas and Sierra Leone, a member of theNassau Legislative Council and in 1887 founded the newspaper Freeman. He was a Market Socialist and Egalitarian who published numerous books and writings promoting these views during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was a Pan Africanist and a strong defender of Black people, made evident in the lengthy exchange he had with the Englishman John Gardiner in 1886 after the latter referred to Black Bahamians as "Lazy and good for nothing". He also supported Caribbean integration, promoting the idea of federating the West Indies and charting their own path to prosperity. He was a strong supporter of the Empire but believed in the Self Governance of the British West Indies as a fe