Dr. Terry Anne Scott is the CEO and Executive Director of the Institute for History and Equity. An award-winning historian, author, and speaker, she is a former Professor of African American History and was Chair of the Department of History and Director of African American Studies at Hood College before leaving to serve as the founding Director of the Institute for Common Power, an educational nonprofit organization.
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, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in History from Arizona State University.
Dr. Scott left her tenured position as an Associate Professor to become the Director of the Institute for Common Power in 2022. During her time 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 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, African American social and cultural history, the intersection of sports and race, 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 authorized biography 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 anthology Reclaiming Democracy: A History of Voter Suppression and a Handbook for Voting Justice 2026). Her latest essays include “The Lynching of Henry Smith,” in Michael Pfeiffers Encyclopedia of Lynching (2026), “The 1968 Black Power Image and the Mexico City Olympics,” which appears in Sports through the Lens: Essays on 25 Iconic Photographs (University of Texas Press, 2025), and “Lenny Wilkens, From Bed-Stuy to Basketball Icon: An Origin Story” in the Journal of Sports History. Additionally, Dr. Scott currently serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Sports History and is a member of the editorial staff for the Journal of American History.
Dr. Scott regularly lectures about African American history, social movements, and social movements at venues across the country. She is frequently featured on regional and national media programs. 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 featured in acclaimed documentarian Stanley Nelson’s 2023 documentary, “Sound of the Police.”
Dr. Scott has worked on several public history projects throughout her career. She was the lead curator and researcher on several installments in Selma, Alabama that illuminate the rich history of that community, including an outdoor exhibit on Water Ave. near the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge, and a historical marker behind Brown Chapel AME Church at the site where marchers gathered before the March 7, 1965 that came to be known as “Bloody Sunday.” Dr. Scott was a key consultant on a permanent exhibit about lynching in Maryland at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. 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 taught students how to process the archival collections held by African American Resources, Cultural Heritage Society of Frederick County (AARCH).
Dr. Scott believes that an academic’s role should extend beyond the classroom. To this end, she has been heavily involved in community service and activism. She currently serves on the Board of the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project. She has been the founder and co-founder of multiple community programs that teach educators how to discuss the history of race and racism with their students. She founded the University of Washington Community Ambassadors Mentor Program, which connected college students—particularly student-athletes, with economically marginalized local youth. She has also served as a researcher or consultant on numerous public history projects. 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. While serving as Director of the Institute for Common Power, Dr. Scott spearheaded numerous programs, including Scholars in Motion, the Selma Scholar in Residence program, and the Truth and Purpose Learning Tour for Educators. She co-leads the Truth and Purpose Learning Experiences and has led numerous organizations on the journey, including the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project, BlackPAC, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Los Angeles Lakers.
