È tra le fondatrici del collettivo Combahee River Collective e, insieme a Audre Lorde di Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, una casa editrice specializzata nelle pubblicazioni scritte da donne di colore, ed è una delle prime saggiste a definire il concetto della simultaneità delle oppressioni che subiscono le donne nere.
La Smith si definisce "una femminista nera, una donna nera, una lesbica nera", soggetta pertanto a sistemi di oppressione tra loro interconnessi, relativi a razza, classe, genere, preferenza sessuale.
Il suo lavoro critico ed editoriale negli anni settanta e ottanta ha contribuito a valorizzare la tradizione letteraria delle donne afroamericane ed a definire il femminismo nero.
Bethel, Lorraine, Barbara Smith, eds. Conditions: Five, The Black Women's Issue 2, no. 2 (1979).
Bulkin, Elly, Minnie Bruce Pratt, and Barbara Smith. Yours in Struggle: Three Feminist Perspectives on Anti-Semitism and Racism. Ithaca, N.Y.: Firebrand Books, 1984, 1988.
Hull, Gloria T., Patricia Bell Scott, Barbara Smith, eds. All the Women Are White, All the Blacks are Men, But some of Us Brave: Black Women's Studies. New York: The Feminist Press at The City University of New York, 1982.
Mankiller, Wilma, Gwendolyn Mink, Marysa Navarro, Barbara Smith, and Gloria Steinem, eds. The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.
Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith: “Across the Kitchen Table: A Sister-to-Sister Dialogue.” In This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, ed. Cherrie Moraga e Gloria Anzaldúa. Watertown, MA: Persephone Press, 1981
Barbara Smith: “'Feisty Characters' and ‘Other People's Causes': Memories of White Racism and U. S. Feminism.” In The Feminist Memoir Project: Voices from Women's Liberation, eds. Rachel Blau DuPlessis and Ann Snitow. New York: Crown Publishing, 1998.
Barbara Smith: Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology. New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1983.
Barbara Smith: Writings on Race, Gender and Freedom: The Truth that Never Hurts. Rutgers University Press, New Jersey, 1998.
Barbara Smith: “Where Has Gay Liberation Gone? An Interview with Barbara Smith.” In Homo Economics: Capitalism, Community, and Lesbian and Gay Life, ed. Amy Gluckman and Betsy Reed. New York and London: Routledge, 1997.