Ann London Scott
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Ann London Scott (1929-1975) was an American feminist. She founded the Buffalo chapter of the
National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...
(NOW). As legislative vice president of the national organization in the early 1970s, she led the effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. She was also a poet, translator, and English professor at the
State University of New York at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...
(UB).


Early life and education

She was born in Seattle, Washington, to Daniel Edwin London and Claire Chester London. In 1935 she moved with her family to
San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, where her father managed a luxury hotel. She attended the Dominican Convent School in
San Rafael, California San Rafael ( ; Spanish for " St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's populatio ...
. She studied literature at the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...
, receiving a B.A. in 1954 and her doctorate in 1968. She wrote her dissertation on Shakespeare's use of language.


Academic and literary career

She taught at the University of Washington during the early 1960s. In 1965 she moved to New York to teach at UB. During this period she published poetry in literary magazines such as ''Sage'', ''Choice'', and '' Poetry Northwest''.


Activism

She joined NOW in 1967 and led the formation of its
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
, chapter. She was elected to the organization's national board in 1970. With NOW colleague
Lucy Komisar Lucy Komisar is a New York City-based investigative journalist and drama critic. Komisar was editor of the ''Mississippi Free Press'' in Jackson, Mississippi from 1962 to 1963. The weekly covered the civil rights movement and related political and ...
, she lobbied for affirmative action guideline changes at the
U.S. Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the United States federal executive departments, executive departments of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of fede ...
and the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
. In 1970, while teaching at UB, she published a controversial article in the university newspaper, ''The Reporter''. Titled "The Half-Eaten Apple," the article was "one of the first attempts to examine alleged discrimination in the academic world," according to the ''New York Times''. Scott never received tenure at UB, a fact she later attributed to the publication of the article. In 1971 she was elected legislative vice president of NOW. That same year, she co-authored two feminist pamphlets, ''Business and Industry Discrimination Kit'' and ''And Justice for All'', with Lucy Komisar. In 1973 she left UB to work full-time as a lobbyist for NOW and other groups. During her three terms as legislative vice president of NOW, Scott led the effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and the
Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 is a United States federal law which amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (the "1964 Act") to address employment discrimination against African Americans and other minorities. Specifica ...
. In addition to her work with NOW, she served on the national board of Common Cause, and as associate director of the American Association for Higher Education. She was also a member of the
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (The Leadership Conference), formerly called the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, is an umbrella group of American civil rights interest groups. Organizational history The Leadership Co ...
, and worked on women's rights projects with the Modern Language Association.


Personal life

She married Paul de Witt Tufts, a musician, in 1951. The marriage ended in 1954. She married again in 1956, to a poet named Gerd Stern, and had a son the following year; that marriage ended in 1961. In 1965 she married Thomas J. Scott, dean of the graduate division of the
Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a Private university, private art school, art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of t ...
. She died of breast cancer at her home in
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, on February 18, 1975. In her memory, NOW established the Ann London Scott Award for Legislative Excellence, which is conferred each year on a female legislator. Her papers are on file in the UB Archives and the Schlesinger Library at Harvard.


References


Further reading

* ''The Reporter'', May 14, 1970, reprinted in ''Hearings on Section 805 of H. R. 1608 Before the Special Subcommittee on Education of the House Committee on Education and Labor, 91st Congress, 2nd Session 1060'', 212. {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Ann London 1929 births 1975 deaths University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni University at Buffalo faculty National Organization for Women people People from Seattle Equal Rights Amendment activists