Contributions by Scholars of Color Interview Series: Highlights from Dr. Elsie Scott, Howard University
Dr. Elsie Scott is the Director of the Ronald Walters Leadership and Public Policy Center at Howard University. She further discusses the political environment during her graduate school experience and her involvement in activism.
My father’s activism taught me that you shouldn’t just accept things because maybe that’s what the state law said or even what the federal law said. That if you felt like it was an injustice, you should fight against it.
In this interview, Dr. Scott reflects on her upbringing, introduction to political science, and various challenges she faced in her career, and additionally shares advice for young scholars in the discipline. This interview was conducted by APSA staff member and DEI Program Manager, India Angelique Simmons, at the NCOBPS Annual Meeting in Atlanta Georgia, March 10, 2023.
‣ Watch the full interview series on YouTube
As part of an ongoing series examining contributions of Scholars of Color, the APSA Diversity and Inclusion Department conducted a series of oral history interviews during the 2023 National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS) Annual Meeting held in Atlanta, Georgia. This collection of interviews contributes to a continuous project that seeks to amplify the scholarship and contributions of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to the profession and investigate the history of race and racism in the political science profession. It further builds upon the APSA-Pi Sigma African American Alpha Oral History Project (1988-1994) and is motivated by the McClain Task Force on Systemic Inequality in the Discipline (2022). Each interview premiered at the 2023 APSA Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, CA and will be shown at the 2024 NCOBPS Annual Meeting.