Dismayed that works available by writers of color prominently featured the experiences of men, Smith founded on her friend Audre Lorde's suggestion. Established in 1980 in Boston, Kitchen Table relocated to New York in 1981. In collaboration with Lorde, Cherríe Moraga, Hattie Gossett, Susan L. Yung, June Jordan, and Gloria Anzaldúa, Smith published several pamphlets and books that came to be embraced in ethnic studies, women's studies, queer studies, and Black studies programs, such as "Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology", "This Bridge Called My Back", "Cuentos: Stories by Latinas", and "I Am Your Sister: Black Women Organizing Across Sexualities". Smith has said that Kitchen Table's legacy lies in contemporary publishing, as women of color writers such as Walker and Toni Morrison have entered the American literary canon, as well as influencing feminist studies to incorporate intersectionality as a lens of inquiry.