Emmett J. Scott - (Afro-Texans) by Maceo C Dailey (Hardcover)

About the Book

The first biography of Emmett J. Scott, chief of staff, adviser, and ghostwriter to Booker T. Washington, and power player behind the Tuskegee Institute.

Book Synopsis

Reared in Houston (Freedmen's Town), Texas, Emmett J. Scott was a journalist, newspaper editor, government official, author, and chief of staff, adviser, and ghostwriter to Booker T. Washington. Called "the power broker of the Tuskegee Machine," Scott was a Renaissance man, scholar, and political fixer. However, his life has not received a full examination until now.

Built upon fifty years of research, Maceo C. Dailey's Emmett J. Scott offers fascinating detail by describing Scott's role in promoting the Tuskegee Institute. Before his 2015 death, Dailey had nearly singular access to the Scott papers at Morgan State University, which have been officially closed for decades. Readers will finally be exposed to Scott's behind-the-scenes contributions to racial uplift and will see his influential role in advancing not only the Tuskegee Institute but also the Booker T. Washington agenda.

Editors Will Guzmán and David H. Jackson Jr. lend their own expertise in bringing Dailey's lifetime project to fruition. Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Levering Lewis, a close friend of Dailey's, provides a timely foreword. Former Black Panther Party chairwoman Elaine Brown, Scott's granddaughter, reflects on his impact and her relationship with the Scott family in the afterword.

Taken together, this work of biography is an impressive reference and an essential endeavor of recovery, one that restores to prominence the life and legacy of Emmett J. Scott.

Review Quotes

"Dailey's well-researched biography of Scott offers an
alternative to the traditional history of Booker T. Washington and Tuskegee
Institute. . . . Dailey provides a vivid and compelling history
of a man known publicly as Washington's liaison but who masterfully became the
architect of the Tuskegee Machine through his behind-the-scenes leadership,
political savviness, and astute personality. Through Dailey's first volume of
Scott's life, we learn that Scott was a race man and a leading 'power broker of
the Tuskegee Machine.'" --Sheena Harris Hayes, Journal of Southern History
90, no. 3 (August 2024)

"This book is, in a sense, the life work of Maceo Dailey, originating as
a doctoral dissertation in 1983 that he never published in his lifetime. Will
Guzmán and David Jackson have done an excellent job of editing, as the book is
well organized and the narrative flows well. Chapter headings and subject
matter are logical and draw readers to specific periods of [Emmett J.] Scott's
career. The editors included a useful timeline of Scott's life, as well as a
Foreword, Editor's Note, and Afterword. One of the most impressive aspects of
the book is the extensive nature of Dailey's research, which is recorded in
sixty pages of notes and a complete bibliography. Archival resources include
both Scott's and [Booker T.] Washington's papers as well as many others. Dailey
also included public records, personal interviews, and numerous other primary
and secondary sources. Overall, this work is a valuable contribution to both
Texas and African American historiography." --Mark Stanley, Southwestern
Historical Quarterly 127, no. 3 (January 2024)