Dr. Terry Anne Scott
Director, The Institute for Common Power
Dr. Terry Anne Scott is an award-winning historian, author, and speaker. Dr. Scott earned her doctorate in history from the University of Chicago under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Cleveland Holt. She was awarded a fellowship from the University’s Board of Trustees. She received a master’s degree with distinction from Southern Methodist University.
Dr. Scott left her position as an associate professor of American history and Chair of the Department of History at Hood College in Maryland to become the Director of the Institute for Common Power in 2022. During her tenure at Hood College, she received numerous awards, including the college’s highest commendation for professors—the Excellence in Teaching Award. Dr. Scott has also taught at other universities, including the University of Maryland—where she currently teaches part-time—and the University of Washington, where she was nominated for a Distinguished Teaching Award and received the Outstanding University of Washington Woman Award.
Dr. Scott’s research interests focus largely on urban history, the intersection of sports and race, African American social and cultural history, and political and social movements. She is the author of several books, including Lynching and Leisure: Race and the Transformation of Mob Violence in Texas (winner of the 2022 Ottis Lock Endowment Best Book Award)and the forthcoming From Bed-Stuy to the Hall of Fame: The Unexpected Life of Lenny Wilkens. She is also the editor of Seattle Sports: Play, Identity, and Pursuit in the Emerald City and the forthcoming anthology Reclaiming Democracy: A History of Voter Suppression and a Handbook for Voting Justice. Her essay entitled, ““The 1968 Black Power Image and the Mexico City Olympics,” will appear in Sports through the Lens: Essays on 25 Iconic Photographs (Forthcoming, University of Texas Press, 2024). Additionally, Dr. Scott serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Sports History.
Dr. Scott regularly lectures about race, sports, social movements, and voting rights at venues across the country. Additionally, she is frequently featured on regional and national media programs, including NPR. Dr. Scott is a featured historian in several episodes of the History Channel’s “I Was There.” She is also in the critically acclaimed documentary “Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day,” which received a 2022 NAACP Image Award, a 2022 Peabody nomination, and was short-listed for an Academy Award. Dr. Scott is slated to be in several upcoming documentaries, acclaimed documentarian Stanley Nelson’s 2023 documentary, “The Sound of the Police.”
Dr. Scott has worked on several public history projects throughout her career. Contracted by the Texas Department of Transportation, Dr. Scott was a member of a small group of historians who chronicled the history of an excavated, post-emancipation era, African American cemetery (Freedman’s Cemetery) and the surrounding community in Dallas, Texas. The team used the findings to create an expansive report, elementary school curriculum, and a museum exhibit. Dr. Scott also chronicled the history of the first African American public housing project in Dallas for the Dallas Housing Authority. While at Hood College, Dr. Scott established a program that connected students with theAfrican American Resources, Cultural Heritage Society of Frederick County (AARCH). She oversaw students who processed the archival collections held by AARCH to ensure that researchers and others have access to these collections for generations. Dr. Scott is currently serving as a consultant for an upcoming exhibit on lynching at the Reginald G. Lewis Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
Dr. Scott believes that an academic’s role should extend beyond the classroom. To this end, she has heavily involved in community service and activism. She currently serves on the Board of the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project. She is the founder and co-founder of multiple community programs, including Anti-Racist Tune Up Workshop, a program that teaches college and high school educators how to discuss race and racism with their students; Race Cafés; and the Community Ambassadors Mentor Program, which connects college students, particularly student-athletes, with economically marginalized local youth. She has also served as a researcher or consultant on numerous public history projects. Most recently, Dr. Scott helped lead the creation and implementation of a course on African American Studies for high school students in Maryland’s Frederick Public School System. Since serving as Director of the Institute for Common Power, Dr. Scott has spearheaded numerous programs, including the Truth and Purpose Learning Experience for Educators, Scholars in Motion, and the Family Voter Registration Drive.
Dr. Scott received Common Power’s very first fellowship for exceptional educators committed to a just and inclusive civic democracy built on the full truths of American history. We recognized Dr. Scott as a highly worthy recipient because of her superb scholarly research on lynching, crime, and race in America; her outstanding teaching in and alongside students previously at University of Washington and then at Hood College; and her exemplary commitment to experiential learning and public service with diverse communities across the nation. It is our honor to recognize and to support her as a public scholar who embodies a deep and wide commitment to civic health.
Listen to Dr. Scott discuss her latest book, Lynching and Leisure: Race and the Transformation of Mob Violence in Texas, on the Baltimore NPR affiliate: https://omny.fm/shows/midday/lynching-and-leisure-how-racial-terrorism-became-p
Select Publications
“The 1968 Black Power Image and the Mexico City Olympics,” in Sports through the Lens: Essays on 25 Iconic Photographs, edited by Maureen M. Smith, Daniel A. Nathan, and Sarah K. Fields. (Forthcoming, University of Texas, 2024).
Reclaiming Democracy: A History of Voter Suppression and a Handbook for Voting Justice (forthcoming 2025), editor.
From Bed-Stuy to the Hall of Fame: The Unexpected Life of Lenny Wilkens (forthcoming 2025).
Lynching and Leisure: Race and the Transformation of Mob Violence in Texas (University of Arkansas, 2022). (Winner of the 2022 Ottis Lock Endowment Best Book Award).
Seattle Sports: Play, Identity, and Pursuit in the Emerald City, editor, (University of Arkansas, 2021).
“A White Mob Attacked a Black Riverboat Captain. This Time, His Life Mattered,” Truthout, August 14, 2023.
“The Milwaukee Bucks Strike is Part of a Long Tradition of Athlete Resistance,” Truthout, Sept. 4, 2020.
“Lynching is Not a Relic from a Jim Crow Past. It’s a Modern Form of Racial Violence,”Truthout, Aug. 9, 2020.
Select Media Appearances
DOCUMENTARIES / DOCUSERIES
“Sound of the Police,” (Firelight Media and ABC Studios), Hulu, 2023 “Lynching Postcards: ‘Token of a Great Day” – (Firelight Media and MTV Documentaries), Paramount Plus, 2021 “Killer in the White City,” “I Was There,” History Channel, 2022 “Lincoln’s Assassination,” “I Was There,” History Channel, 2022 “Bloody Sunday,” “I Was There,” History Channel, 2022
WYPR – (Baltimore’s NPR Station)
"Lynching and Leisure": Racial terror as town-square spectacle | WYPR
Florida teach-in seeks to counter Gov. DeSantis's policies | WYPR
"Lynching and Leisure”: How racial terrorism became public spectacle
Jogging While Black: Seeking Justice for Ahmaud Arbery
Local Business Owners Keep Juneteenth Alive In Baltimore
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.: His Legacy and the Road Ahead for Racial Justice