Aurelius Southall Scott

Aurelius Southall Scott (January 26, 1901 – June 28, 1978) was an American educator and newspaper editor. Scott made national headlines in 1946, when he ran for public office in Georgia; he was arrested and institutionalized to force an end to his campaign.

Aurelius Southall Scott
Aurelius Southall Scott, from the 1930 yearbook of Bethune-Cookman College
BornJanuary 26, 1901
Edwards, Mississippi
DiedJune 28, 1978
NationalityAmerican
OccupationEducator, editor, political candidate

Early life

Aurelius Southall Scott was born in Edwards, Mississippi,[1] one of the nine children of the Rev. William Alexander Scott and Emmeline Southall Scott.[2][3] His father was clergyman and publisher; his mother was a teacher and a typesetter in her husband's publishing business.[4][5] He attended Morehouse College, where he played football and was a member of the debate team, before graduating in 1925.[6] He earned a master's degree at Ohio State University.[7]

Career

Education and publishing

Scott taught at Bethune-Cookman College[8] and West Virginia State University.[1] Scott's brother W. A. Scott Jr. founded the Atlanta Daily World newspaper in 1928;[9] when W. A. Scott Jr. was killed in 1934,[10] his brothers fought over the family's publishing business.[11] Aurelius S. Scott was editor of the Birmingham World newspaper, until another brother, Cornelius A. Scott, fired him after a salary disagreement.[12]

In 1961, Aurelius S. Scott founded the University of Love, an Atlanta-based institute.[13]

Politics and institutionalization

In 1946, Scott ran for Fulton County coroner.[14][15] Fearing that he might become the first black elected official in Georgia since Reconstruction,[16] his white opponents and others (including his brother, editor Cornelius A. Scott) pressured him to withdraw as a candidate.[17][18] When he refused to withdraw,[19] his residency qualification was challenged,[20] and he was arrested, possibly[21] with his brother's cooperation.[22][23] Aurelius Scott reacted violently to the arrest,[24] and was institutionalized at a mental hospital in Nashville, Tennessee,[25] effectively ending his campaign.[26] [27]

Scott's family,[28] the NAACP, the National Urban League, and the American Civil Liberties Union all protested Scott's removal from the ballot and involuntary commitment.[29] "He has done his people great harm," declared the editors of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "apparently out of a desire, by no means confined to the Negro race, for publicity, or notoriety."[30] "Criticism should be aimed at the forces facing Scott rather than at him," commented the National Urban League's Lester B. Granger.[31]

Personal life

Scott married fellow professor Mazie O. Tyson in 1928;[32] they ran a summer camp together in Ohio, and were on the faculty together at Bethune-Cookman College,[7] before they separated in the 1930s. He married again in 1943, to Ruth Commons.[33] Scott died in July 1978, aged 77 years.[1]

References
  1. "Atlantans Mourn Death of Aurelius S. Scott, 77" Jet (July 27, 1978): 56.
  2. "Scott Family, c1928, in the New Georgia Encyclopedia". Georgia Journeys. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  3. "Mother of Atlanta Newspaper Publishers Dies at Age 98". Jet: 55. July 21, 1977.
  4. Teel, Leonard Ray (2000). "Scott, William Alexander, II (1902-1934), newspaper publisher". American National Biography Online. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1603105.
  5. "Deaths: Emmeline Scott". The Evening Review. 1977-07-06. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  6. "Atlanta, the Scott Family, and the Creation of a Media Empire". Atlanta Studies. 2018-12-18. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  7. The Wildcat (Bethune-Cookman College 1930): 17.
  8. Bethune-Cookman University, The Advocate, Catalogue, Edition of 1930-31 (1930): 12.
  9. "Photos: Atlanta Daily World and the Scott family". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  10. "Brother-in-Law on Trial for Slaying of Ga. Publisher". Baltimore Afro American. February 9, 1935. p. 2. Retrieved February 13, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  11. "Family Fight for Control of Scott Papers". Baltimore Afro American. May 5, 1934. p. 7. Retrieved February 13, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  12. "Long-Distance Calls Result in Loss of Job". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1938-11-12. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "People are Talking About". Jet: 46. July 6, 1961.
  14. "In Race, Maybe". The Spokesman-Review. 1946-10-13. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Squeezed Out". The Des Moines Register. 1946-10-12. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Seeks Georgia Vote". Wisconsin State Journal. 1946-10-18. p. 17. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Georgia Democrats Bar Negro in Race, Then Change Minds". Chicago Tribune. 1946-10-12. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. "Fresh Wrinkles in Georgia Row". The Spokesman-Review. 1946-10-15. p. 9. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. "Georgia Negro to Remain in Race for Coroner in Atlanta". Amarillo Daily News. 1946-10-15. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. Miller, J. Erroll (1948). "The Negro in Present Day Politics With Special Reference to Philadelphia". The Journal of Negro History. 33 (3): 339. doi:10.2307/2715478. ISSN 0022-2992. JSTOR 2715478.
  21. "Tales Conflict on Negro Candidate's Move to Hospital". The Gazette. 1946-10-21. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. "Atlanta Negro Seeking Office Is Arrested". The Courier-Journal. 1946-10-20. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. "Deplores Race". The Knoxville Journal. 1946-10-11. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  24. "Candidate Scott Near Institution Treatment". The Atlanta Constitution. 1946-10-19. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. "Negro Politico Mental Patient". The Spokesman-Review. 1946-10-20. p. 20. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. "Scott's Name Taken off Ga. County Ticket". Indianapolis Recorder. November 2, 1946. p. 7. Retrieved February 13, 2020 – via Hoosier State Chronicles.
  27. Patterson, William L. (1952). We Charge Genocide: The Historic Petition to the United Nations for Relief from a Crime of the United States Government Against the Negro People. Civil Rights Congress. pp. 91–92.
  28. "Family Denies Making Charge Against Scott". Indianapolis Recorder. November 2, 1946. Retrieved February 13, 2020 – via Hoosier State Chronicles.
  29. "Candidacy of Scott for Ga. Coroner Called Untimely". Jackson Advocate. October 26, 1946. p. 7. Retrieved February 13, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  30. "The Case of Aurelius S. Scott". The Atlanta Constitution. 1946-10-18. p. 12. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. "Candidate Kicked Out, Record Erased". Baltimore Afro American. October 19, 1946. p. 24. Retrieved February 13, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  32. "Tyson-Scott Wedding". The Evening Review. 1928-06-16. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  33. "Prominent Couple Feted". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1943-04-10. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
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