What ethnicity was Pamela Colman Smith?

She was born in London to white American parents from prominent Brooklyn families. People who met her often read her as racially ambiguous, and rumours of mixed heritage followed her all her life, but no record supports them. Her biographers leave it open.

Was Pamela Colman Smith Jamaican?

No. She was British-born to American parents and lived in Jamaica from about eleven to fifteen. The island stayed with her: she later published two books of Jamaican Anansi folk tales and performed them on stage.

Did Pamela Colman Smith get credit for the tarot deck?

Some. Waite named her in his 1909 announcement and in his Key to the Tarot, and her monogram is on 77 of the 78 cards. But the boxes never carried her name, she was paid a small one-off fee, and from 1971 the deck was sold as “Rider-Waite”. The name Rider-Waite-Smith only caught on in the last twenty years.

How did Pamela Colman Smith die?

She died on 18 September 1951 at Bencoolen House in Bude, Cornwall, aged 73 and in debt. Her belongings were sold to cover what she owed, and she was buried in an unmarked grave at St Michael and All Angels churchyard in Bude.

Category: Bog-Standard Tarot