In 1798, Smith dictated his life experiences and with his family had it printed by The Bee, in New London, CT. The narrative has been the subject of some contention, regarded in many instances as "whitewashed" and inauthentic. It was suspected that the white editor manipulated Smith's story, a common practice among editors of slave narratives. After four conferences and numerous scholarly papers, it is the conclusion of most scholars and the Documenting Venture Smith Project that the Narrative is entirely Venture Smith's own words. The work is titled A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America.[1]
Film, media, and popular culture

He is referenced in the 1971 film Let's Scare Jessica to Death, by the title character, who makes a gravestone rubbing of Smith's headstone, and later reads it to her husband.

Smith was featured in the 1996 PBS television documentary series "Africans in America "[7] and was the subject of a 2006 USA Today newspaper story.[8]

Russell Shorto's 2017 book, Revolution Song contains a chapter detailing Smith's life story.[9]