Anne Firor Scott (April 24, 1921 – February 5, 2019) was an American historian, specializing in the history of women and of the South.

Early life and education

Scott was born April 24, 1921, in

Montezuma, Georgia Montezuma is a city in Macon County, Georgia ( ZIP code 31063). The population was 3,047 at the 2020 census, down from 3,460 in 2010. It is home to the armory of Bravo Company, 648th Engineers of the Georgia Army National Guard. History Montez ...

. She earned her PhD from Radcliffe College of Harvard University in 1958.

Career

Scott was appointed to the Citizen's Advisory Council on the status of women in 1965. She taught part-time at both

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

and the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

, before teaching full-time at Duke University. In 1980 she became the first female chair of the history department at Duke. She retired from teaching at Duke in the early 1990s. She was the president of the

Organization of American Historians The Organization of American Historians (OAH), formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S. and abroad incl ...

from 1983 to 1984, and the president of the

Southern Historical Association The Southern Historical Association is a professional academic organization of historians focusing on the history of the Southern United States. It was organized on November 2, 1934. Its objectives are the promotion of interest and research in Sou ...

in 1989.

Bibliography

* ''The Southern Lady: From Pedestal to Politics, 1830–1930'' (1970) * ''Women in American Life'' (1970) * ''The American woman: who was she?'' (Eyewitness accounts of American history series) (1971) * ''One Half the People: The Fight for Woman Suffrage'' (with Andrew M. Scott) (1975) * ''What, then, is the American; this new woman?'' (1978) * ''Women in American History : a Bibliography'' (Scott only wrote the introduction; the editor is Cynthia E. Harrison) (1979) * ''Making the Invisible Woman Visible'' (1984) *“Women in the South,” with Jacquelyn Dowd Hall in ''Interpreting Southern History: Historiographical Essays in Honor of Sanford W. Higginbotham'', ed. John B. Boles and Evelyn T. Nolen (Baton Rouge, 1987), 454–509. * Foreword, ''When the World Ended: The Diary of Emma LeConte'' (Earl Schenck Miers is the editor and Emma LeConte is the author) (1987) * ''Virginia Women: The First Two Hundred Years'' (with

Suzanne Lebsock Suzanne Lebsock (born December 1, 1949, at Williston, ND) is an American author and historian. Her works include her first book '' The Free Women of Petersburg: Status and Culture in a Southern Town, 1784-1860'' which was published in 1984 and wo ...

) (1988) * ''Natural Allies: Women's Associations in American History'' (1992) * Foreword, ''The Hard-Boiled Virgin'' (Frances Newman is the author of the book) (1993) * ''Unheard Voices: The First Historians of Southern Women'' (1993) * Introduction, ''Women's Life and Work in the Southern Colonies'' (Author is Julia Cherry Spruill) (1998) * Introduction, ''Votes for Women: A 75th Anniversary Album'' (Authors are Ellen DuBois and Karen Kearns) (1999) * ''Southern Women and Their Families in the 19th Century'' Papers and Diaries Microform (Research Collections in Women's Studies) (Anne Firor Scott, Daniel Lewis, and Martin Paul Schipper were editors; authors are University Publications of America and University of Texas at Austin Center for American History) (2000) * ''The Road to Seneca Falls:

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton ( Cady; November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 ...

and the First Woman's Rights Convention'' (author is Judith Wellman; Anne Firor Scott and Nancy Hewitt were editors) (Women in American History Series) (2005) * ''

Pauli Murray Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray (November 20, 1910 – July 1, 1985) was an American civil rights activist, advocate, legal scholar and theorist, author and – later in life – an Episcopal priest. Murray's work influenced the civil r ...

and Caroline Ware: Forty Years of Letters in Black and White'' (2006) * '' Lucy Somerville Howorth: New Deal Lawyer, Politician, and Feminist from the South'' (with Dorothy S. Shawhan and Martha H. Swain) (2011) * Preface, ''Never Ask Permission:

Elisabeth Scott Bocock Elisabeth Scott Bocock (February 3, 1901 - December 9, 1985) was an American patron of the arts. Known for her philanthropy and historic preservation, she was active in founding a number of organizations in Richmond, Virginia. Personal life She ...

of Richmond, A Memoir by Mary Buford Hitz'' (Author is Mary Buford Hitz) (2012)

Honors

*Honorary degrees from Northwestern University, Radcliffe College, Queens College, and the University of the South *Berkshire Conference Prize in 1980 *University Medal for Distinguished Meritorious Services, from Duke University in 1991 *

' Distinguished Service Award in 2002 *Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 2004 *

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

’s Scholarly Achievement Award in 2008 *2013

National Humanities Medal The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the humani ...

(awarded in 2014)

Legacy

The Anne Firor Scott papers, 1963–2002, are held at

. In 1992, the

established the annual Lerner-Scott Prize, named for Scott and

Gerda Lerner Gerda Hedwig Lerner (née Kronstein; April 30, 1920 – January 2, 2013) was an Austrian-born American historian and woman's history author. In addition to her numerous scholarly publications, she wrote poetry, fiction, theatre pieces, screenpl ...

. It is awarded annually to the writer of the best doctoral dissertation that year in U.S. women's history. ''Visible Women: New Essays on American Activism,'' a collection of essays drawing inspiration from Scott's 1984 work, ''Making the Invisible Woman Visible'', was published in 1993. ''Writing Women's History: A Tribute to Anne Firor Scott'' was published in 2011. It contains essays on how women's history is written in the wake of Scott's book ''The Southern Lady: From Pedestal to Politics, 1830–1930''. Edited by Elizabeth Anne Payne, the collection has contributions from Scott herself, Laura F. Edwards, Crystal Feimster, Glenda E. Gilmore, Jacquelyn Dowd Hall,

Darlene Clark Hine Darlene Clark Hine (born February 7, 1947) is an American author and professor in the field of African-American history. She is a recipient of the 2014 National Humanities Medal. Early life and education Darlene Clark was born in Morley, Miss ...

, Mary Kelley, Markeeva Morgan,

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (born July 11, 1938) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian specializing in early America and the history of women, and a professor at Harvard University. Her approach to history has been described as a tribute to ...

, and

Deborah Gray White Deborah Gray White is the Board of Governors Professor of History and Professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. In addition to teaching at Rutgers, she also directed, "The Black Atlantic: Race, Nati ...

. It is based on papers presented at the University of Mississippi's annual Chancellor Porter L. Fortune Symposium in Southern History.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Firor Scott, Anne 1921 births 2019 deaths Feminist historians Historians of the United States 21st-century American historians University of Georgia alumni Northwestern University alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Haverford College faculty University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty Duke University faculty American women historians Women's historians People from Montezuma, Georgia Radcliffe College alumni National Humanities Medal recipients 21st-century American women writers Historians from Georgia (U.S. state)