Emmett Jay Scott

Emmett Jay Scott (February 13, 1873 – December 12, 1957) was an African American journalist, newspaper editor, academic, and government official who was Booker T. Washington's closest advisor at the Tuskegee Institute. He was responsible for maintaining Washington's nationwide "Tuskegee machine," with its close links to black business leadership, white philanthropists, and Republican politicians from the local level to the White House.

After Washington's death, Scott lost his Tuskegee connection, but moved to Washington, D.C., as Special Advisor of Black Affairs to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker. Scott was the highest-ranking African American in Democrat Woodrow Wilson's presidential administration. After 1919, he was less and less visible in national affairs, with the NAACP largely assuming the leadership role that Booker T. Washington had dominated.

Biography Early life and education

Emmett Jay Scott was born in Houston, Texas, in 1873, the son of former slaves Horace Lacy Scott and Emma Kyle. He began his studies at Wiley College in 1887, but left 3 years later to pursue a career in journalism. Scott became editor soon after the newspaper began circulation.

On the side Scott was a real estate investor with ties to the banking and insurance industries. He was a founder of the National Negro Business League in 1900 and served as Secretary of that organization from its establishment until 1922.

Scott served as Secretary of the Tuskegee Institute from 1912 until 1917. He worked with Booker T. Washington and took his place after Washington determined travel to Liberia would take him away from his other work for too long.

World War I activity

After the election of President Woodrow Wilson, as the United States moved closer to war, Scott was appointed as Special Assistant for Negro Affairs to the Secretary of War Newton D. Baker. Scott was the highest-ranking African-American in the administration. He selected William Henry Davis to serve as his own assistant and staff manager, helping to ensure blacks were treated fairly by the War Department.

In June 1918, Scott organized a meeting of African-American journalists and business leaders to recommend a Black journalist to the U.S. War Department for reporting on the Negro troops in World War I. Ralph Waldo Tyler was selected to report on the Black troops at the front, and he became the first African-American foreign war correspondent. Tyler's reports were screened by the U.S. Committee on Public Information, then they were reviewed by Scott. He selected letters to be syndicated through the Black press.

Later career

After leaving the War Department in 1919, Scott was named Secretary-Treasurer of Howard University, a position he held until 1933, at which time the Treasurer position was split off. He quarreled with the president and was forced out in 1938. Scott died in Washington, D.C., in 1957.

Morgan State University maintains a collection of Scott's papers. His letters to various parties are a valuable historical resource cited in many works.