Betty Smith was a celebrated author, born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1896 to German immigrant parents. She grew up in poverty in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which would later provide the backdrop for her acclaimed novel, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (1943).
Smith married George H. E. Smith, a Brooklyn native, and moved with him to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he studied law at the University of Michigan. During this time, she gave birth to two daughters and waited until they were in school to pursue her own education. Although she had not completed high school, the university allowed her to enroll in classes. There, she studied journalism, literature, writing, and drama, winning the prestigious Hopwood Award. She was a student in the classes of Professor Kenneth Thorpe Rowe.
In 1938, Smith divorced her husband and moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She married Joseph Jones in 1943, the same year that "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" was published. Smith collaborated with George Abbott to write the book for the 1951 musical adaptation of the same name. Throughout her life, Smith was a prolific dramatist, receiving numerous awards and fellowships for her work in drama, including the Rockefeller Fellowship and the Dramatists Guild Fellowship. Her other novels include "Tomorrow Will Be Better" (1947), "Maggie-Now" (1958), and "Joy in the Morning" (1963).