Dr. Scott — The Institute For Common Power

Dr. Terry Anne Scott

Director, The Institute for Common Power

Terry Anne Scott, Ph.D.

Dr. Terry Anne Scott is an award-winning historian, author, and speaker. She 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. During her tenure at Hood College, Dr. Scott 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 Washington, where she was nominated for a Distinguished Teaching Award and received the Outstanding University of Washington Woman Award. Dr. Scott earned her doctorate in history from the University of Chicago where 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’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. 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, including Stanley Nelson’s “The Sounds of the Police.”

Throughout her career, Dr. Scott has been heavily involved in community service and activism. 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.

Select Publications

Reclaiming Democracy: A History of Voter Suppression and a Handbook for Voting Justice (2023), editor.

From Bed-Stuy to the Hall of Fame: The Unexpected Life of Lenny Wilkens (2023).

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)

Scott, Terry, “The 1968 Olympics Black Power Salute,” in an upcoming anthology, (University of Texas, 2023). Seattle Sports: Play, Identity, and Pursuit in the Emerald City (University of Arkansas, 2021.), editor.

“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.