Poets and spoken word fans, join us for a special event celebrating the community we're proud to call home, the Witherspoon-Jackson Neighborhood.
Signed copies of Dr. Gregory S. Smith’s Reflections from a Vibrant Past, a collection of his poems about the W-J community and the wonderful individuals that have made it so special, will be available for sale.
- Prepare a story, poem, or spoken word piece up to 3 minutes in length and related to the neighborhood.
- Arrive by 5:45pm to add your name to the hat. No previous experience or pre-registration necessary.
- Take the elevator or stairs to the Solley Theater, located on the top floor of our Paul Robeson Center for the Arts.
- Find a seat and enjoy the performances. We kick off shortly after 6pm.
ABOUT OUR HOST:
The Reverend Gregory S. Smith was born April 4, 1964 in Long Beach California. In 1971 his mother married Rev. Leon Gipson, who served as pastor of Mount Pisgah AME Church in Princeton. The blended family assimilated into the church parsonage on Maclean Street. The members of Mount Pisgah and the Witherspoon Jackson “village” became an integral part of Gregory’s social and spiritual development. As a young boy, Gregory received support from his close friends and the community, which helped offer him a sense of purpose and meaning. He found that he was well liked, especially among the older people and began to make lots of friendships in the community. Gregory worked as a paper boy and at a local grocery store (Food Mart) on Witherspoon Street. It was through these combined initiatives that he began the art of observing the “characters” in the community. After graduating from high school in 1982, Gregory attended Rutgers University where he received his bachelor and master’s degrees in social work. He returned to Princeton and began working as a Social Worker at Penn Medicine, Princeton (formerly the Medical Center at Princeton). As an avid creative writer, somehow, he began writing poems, a gift he inherited from his maternal grandmother. He was often asked to write poetry at funerals for local community icons.
Gregory always felt he had a special calling on his life and finally accepted the call to pastoral ministry in 2006. He graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2015. He has pastored several AME, United Methodist and Baptist congregations in Pennington, Willingboro, Hopewell, Mount Holly, and Birmingham Alabama. He currently serves as pastor of Fisk Chapel AME Church in Fair Haven, New Jersey. Gregory is married and has five children, four grandchildren, and a host of surrogate and godchildren alike.
As an innate lover of history, art, and community, Gregory became a 2008 Leadership Trenton Scholar and has served on various local boards and committees, including the Jean D. Riley Scholarship Foundation, The Hi Tops of Princeton, Advisory Board, Past Chair of the Board of Trustees for The Maker’s Place in Trenton. He currently serves as Vice President of the Witherspoon-Jackson Historical Cultural Society, and in 2024 he joined the Arts Council of Princeton’s Board, and Hope For The City, in Trenton, NJ. He also works annually with Joint Effort in support of the community endeavors led by his community mentor, John Bailey. He is also a member of Aaron Lodge #9 (formerly of Princeton) and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Zeta Iota Lambda Chapter, Trenton.
Also available will be The Witherspoon-Jackson Neighborhood, a new book by ACP Executive Director Adam Welch. This publication captures a “people’s history” of how the neighborhood came to be, beginning in 1497 and continues into the present day.
