As a young girl in Baltimore, Mary Smith attended a school for African American girls operated by the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first Roman Catholic society for women of color in the United States. There, Smith would have taken classes in religion, English, French, math, writing, sewing, washing, and ironing. Sewing was considered not only useful for ordinary household work, but also for making beautiful embroidery.

In 1847, the city directory listed Smith as a dressmaker, and by 1860, she had married Richard Hill. At the time of the American Civil War, Mary J. Hill was one of a small group of women who sewed the Fourth Regiment United States Colored Troops Flag in 1863, now in the Maryland Historical Society’s collection. 

Woolwork is similar to needlepoint, but uses heavier wool yarn rather than thread to create an image sewn into a canvas or cloth. Made with wool and silk threads stitched into linen, Smith’s woolwork picture of 1843 depicts a two-story house at the end of a wide walkway, where a couple strolls side-by-side as a child and dog play together. Above, four birds soar upward, and along the bottom, she stitched, “Mary J. Greenfield Smith Work at the Sisters of Providence School 184–.” Unfortunately, the last digit is missing, but the date is believed to be 1843.