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The Business Life of Emmett Jay Scott

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2011

Maceo Crenshaw Dailey Jr
Maceo Crenshaw Dailey Jr
Affiliation:
MACEO CRENSHAW DAILEY JR. is director of African American Studies and associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Texas, El Paso.
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Abstract

Emmett Jay Scott was private secretary to Booker T. Washington and later became secretary treasurer of Howard University. He was involved in numerous business activities, ranging from the establishment of the National Negro Business League to the founding of an investment clearing-house, an insurance company, and an overseas trading firm. Scott also promoted the black township of Mound Bayou and backed African American entertainment enterprises. His business activities were largely unheralded, and the frustrations he encountered illustrate both the obstacles and the opportunities for black entrepreneurs in the first half of the twentieth century.

Type
Articles
Information
Business History Review , Volume 77 , Issue 4 , Winter 2003 , pp. 667 - 686
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2003

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References

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3 Ibid., 1-34, 372-6. Several sources provide information on the early years of Scott's life: “Remarks of Dr. Emmett Jan Scott Upon the Occasion of His Declared Intention to Bequeath to Morgan State College His Library Collection, Personal Papers, etc.,” presented to the Morgan State University Library in Baltimore on 30 April 1952, a copy of which is located in the Special Portfolio of Office Files in the Davis Room of the Library; Scott's obituary in the New York Times, 14 Dec. 1957; Emmett Jay Scott, “Autobiographical Writings, n.d., cont. 7, in the Emmett Jay Scott Papers; Logan, Rayford W. and Winston, Michael R., Dictionary of American Negro Biography (New York, 1982), 151–2.Google Scholar

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6 Dailey, “Emmett Jay Scott,” 1-34, 35-65.

7 See Harlan, Booker T. Washington, 266-8; Thornbrough, Emma Lou, T. Thomas Fortune: Militant Journalist (Chicago, 1972), 202Google Scholar; Lewis, David Levering, W. E. B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919 (New York, 1993), 240Google Scholar.

8 Telephone conversations with Kenneth Hamilton, 8 May and 19 Apr. 2002.

9 Dailey, “Emmett Jay Scott,” 228-30. The figures for the NNBL membership come from Scott, Emmett Jay and Stowe, Lyman Beecher, Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization (Garden City, N.Y., 1916), 192–3Google Scholar.

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14 Ibid.

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16 Scott to R. E. Jones, 2 Aug. 1919, cont. 18, Emmett Jay Scott Papers, Soper Library, Morgan State University, Baltimore (hereafter Scott Papers).

17 NNBL Brochure, n.d., National Negro Business League Papers, Collection no. 1434, Box 7, Special Collections Library, University of California, Los Angeles; Scott to R. E. Jones, 2 Aug. 1919, cont. 18; Scott to B. J. Davis, 12 Apr. 1920, cont. 16; Scott to James H. Durbin, 8 Apr. 1920, cont. 16; Scott to William L. Houston, 8 Apr. 1920, cont. 17, Scott Papers; Burrows, “The Necessity of Myth,” 135; Dailey, “Emmett Jay Scott,” 330-2.

18 Dailey, “Emmett Jay Scott,” 261-2,335-43. The remaining three letters between Scott, Spaulding, and Jones revealed Scott's plans to resign from the NNBL. See Scott to Charles C. Spaulding, 8 Sept. 1922, cont. 29; Spaulding to Scott, 6 May 1922, cont. 29; Scott to R. E. Jones, 20 Dec. 1922, cont. 27-all in Scott Papers.

19 Published in Chicago by the Homewood Press.

20 Dailey, “Emmett Jay Scott,” 306-9; Crisis 18 (May 1919): 10; Crisis 18 (July 1919): 129.

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24 Meier, A White Scholar, 91.

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27 Scott to E. William, 19 Sept. 1923, cont. 29; E. William to Scott, 19 Sept. 1923, cont. 29; Scott to Rucker, 12 Jan. 1920, cont. 20; Scott to H. C. Dugas, 24 Jan. 1920, cont. 16; Ferguson to Scott, 2 July 1921, cont. 26; Scott to Ferguson, 9 Jan. 1921, cont. 26; Scott to Perry, 28 July 1919, cont. 21, Scott Papers.

28 Dailey, “Emmett Jay Scott,” 219-20,320-7; Henderson, Alexa Benson, Atlanta Life Insurance Company: Guardian of Black Economic Dignity (Tuscaloosa, Ala., 1990), 57–9Google Scholar. See St. Drake, Clair and Cayton, Horace R., Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in A Northern City (New York, 1945), 394Google Scholar: “The term ‘Race Man’ is used in a dual sense.… It refers to any person who has a reputation as an uncompromising fighter against attempts to subordinate Negroes. It is also used in a derogatory sense to refer to people who pay loud lip-service to ‘race pride.’”

29 Judy Simmons, “Heman Perry, the Commercial Booker Washington,” Black Enterprise, Apr. 1978, 45; Henton, C. L., “Heman Perry: Documentary Materials for the life of a Businessman” (M.A. thesis, Clark Atlanta University, 1948), 273Google Scholar; Henderson, Alexa Benson, “Heman E. Perry and Black Enterprise in Atlanta, 1908-1925,” Business History Review 61 (Spring 1987): 221CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Woodson, Carter G., “Insurance Business among Negroes,” Journal of Negro History 14 (Apr. 1929): 216–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Henderson, Atlanta Life Insurance Company, 57-9; 100-4.

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31 Henton, “Heman Perry,” 273; Henderson, “Heman E. Perry,” 221; Woodson, “Insurance Business,” 216-17; Bois, W. E. B. Du, The Ordeal of Mansart (New York, 1957), 288–9Google Scholar, and Mansart Builds a School (New York, 1959), 164–6Google Scholar; 170-74. Both books are in a trilogy by Du Bois, The Black Flame.

32 Edyth Williams to Scott, 18 Jan. 1920, cont. 31, Scott Papers; Dailey, “Emmett Jay Scott,” 320-8.

33 Dailey, “Emmett Jay Scott,” 218-20.

34 Henton, “Heman Perry,” 273; Henderson, “Heman E. Perry,” 224.

35 Quote is from Scott to Perry, 11 Sept. 1922, cont. 28. See also Scott to Perry, 31 Aug. 1922, cont. 28; Scott to Perry, 9 July 1923, cont. 33; Scott to Ferguson, 25 Jan. 1923, cont. 32, Perry to Scott, 9 Mar. 1922, cont. 29, Scott Papers. 36 Scott to Ferguson, 25 Jan. 1923, cont. 32; Scott to Perry, 9 July 1923, cont. 33; Scott to Perry, 31 Aug. 1922, cont. 29; see Scott's rough draft of article, “Negro Capitalists Gather in Atlanta,” c. 1923, cont. 33; Perry to Scott, 9 Mar. 1922, cont. 29; Scott to Perry, 11 Sept. 1922, cont. 28, Scott Papers.

37 Figures were taken from Henderson, “Heman Perry,” 229, and Scott, “Negro Capitalists Gather in Atlanta.” See also Scott to Ferguson, 14 Jan. 1923, cont. 29; Ferguson to Scott, 13 Jan. 1923, cont. 32; Scott to Ferguson, 5 Apr. 1924, cont. 25; Perry to Scott, 5 Apr. 1924, cont. 25; Scott to Perry, 5 Apr. 1924, cont. 25; Scott to Perry, 17 Sept. 1923, cont. 28; Scott to Perry, 2 May 1922, cont. 29; Scott to Perry, 29 Mar. 1923, cont. 29, Scott Papers; Bois, W. E. B. Du, The Autobiography of W. E. B. Du Bois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of its First Century (New York, 1968), 277–88Google Scholar.

38 Dailey, “Emmett Jay Scott,” 320-7.

39 Quote is taken from Scott's rough draft of the essay, “Negro Capitalists Gather in Atlanta,” cont. 33. See also Scott to Perry, 9 July 1923, cont. 33; Scott to Perry, 3 Mar. 1923, cont. 29; Scott to Ferguson, 28 June 1923, cont. 29, Scott Papers; Dailey, “Emmett Jay Scott,” 320-7.

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41 Comment about Du Bois was made by David L. Lewis in a telephone interview on 1 Feb. 1999; Scott to John B. Snowden, 7 Dec. 1921, cont. 21; Scott to John E. Nail, 25 Mar. 1922, cont. 28; Scott to J. F. Holland, 21 Jan. 1922, cont. 26; Pace to Scott, 25 Oct. 1921, cont. 28, Scott Papers; Dittmer, 46, 189.

42 Scott to E. C. Brown, 8 July 1922, cont. 23; Scott to Cobb, 21 Jan. 1922, cont. 24; Scott to W. T. Dalmage, 7 Jan. 1921, cont. 25; Scott to Nail, 14 Jan. 1923, cont. 28; Scott to Stephen Ridgeley, 24 June 1923, cont. 29; Scott to Perry, 20 Mar. 1923, cont. 29; C. A. Barnett to Scott, 24 Jan. 1922, cont. 23; Scott to Perry, 11 Oct. 1921, cont. 28, Scott Papers.

43 Dailey, “Emmett Jay Scott,” 320-7.

44 Henton, Heman Perry,” 282.

45 Scott to Ferguson, 14 Jan. 1923, cont. 29; Ferguson to Scott, 13 Jan. 1923, cont. 32; Scott to Ferguson, 5 Apr. 1924, cont. 25; Perry to Scott, 5 Apr. 1924, cont. 25; Scott to Perry, 5 Apr. 1924, cont. 25; Scott to Perry, 17 Sept. 1923, cont. 28; Scott to Perry, 2 May 1922, cont. 29; Scott to Perry, 29 Mar. 1923, cont. 29; Scott to Perry, 2 May 1922, cont. 29; Scott to Perry, 29 Mar. 1923, cont. 29, Scott Papers; Dittmer, John, Black Georgia in the Progressive Era, 1900-1920 (Urbana, Ill., 1977), 46–7Google Scholar.

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47 Henderson, Atlanta Life Insurance Company, 100-13.

48 Dittmer, Black Georgia, 46-7.

49 Ibid.; Simmons, “Heman Perry,” 42-8; Henderson, “Heman E. Perry,” 221-9.

50 Davis, Leroy, A Clashing of the Soul: John Hope and the Dilemma of African American Leadership and Black Higher Education in the Early Twentieth Century (Athens, Ga., 1998), 275–6Google Scholar. Hope wanted the Rosenwald Foundation to provide $200,000 to prevent a white company from taking over Standard Life. Davis describes Hope's activities to save the black company as being couched in a “nationalist framework.”

51 Woodson, “Insurance Business among Negroes,” 216-26; Henderson, Atlanta Life Insurance Company, 101-13; Dittmer, Black Georgia, 46-7.

52 Henderson, “Perry, Heman Edward.”

53 Scott to E. C. Brown, 8 July 1922, cont. 23; Scott to Cobb, 21 Jan. 1922, cont. 24; Scott to W. T. Dalmage, 7 Jan. 1921, cont. 25; Scott to Nail, 14 Jan. 1923, cont. 28; Scott to Stephen Ridgeley, 24 June 1923, cont. 29; Scott to Perry, 20 Mar. 1923, cont. 29; C. A. Barnett to Scott, 24 Jan. 1922, cont. 23; Scott to Perry, 11 Oct. 1921, cont. 28, Scott Papers.

54 Waller, “Emmett Jay Scott,” 35; Harlan, Louis R. and Smock, Raymond, The Booker T. Washington Papers, vol. 12 (Urbana, Ill., 1982), 30–1Google Scholar.

55 Scott to Charles Chappelle, 1 Dec. 1921, cont. 24; Chappelle to Scott, 1 Dec. 1921, cont. 24; Chappelle to Scott, 1 Dec. 1921, cont. 24; Scott to President of Levison Company, 20 Dec. 1921, cont. 24; President of Levison Company to Scott, 27 Dec. 1921, cont. 27, Scott Papers.

56 Scott to Cobb, 9 Nov. 1921, cont. 24; Chappelle to Scott, 1 Dec. 1921, cont. 24; Chapelle to Scott, 5 Dec. 1921, cont. 24; Scott to Frank, 8 Dec. 1921, cont. 26, Scott Papers.

57 Banks to R. E. Jones, 10 Sept. 1919, cont. 14; Scott to Banks, 29 Sept. 1919, cont. 15; Scott to Banks, 29 Oct. 1919, cont. 14; Scott to Lewis, 12 Dec. 1919, cont. 18; Scott to Kyle, 16 Dec. 1919, cont. 18; Banks to Scott, 1 Jan. 1920, cont. 14, Scott Papers.

58 Banks to Moore, 13 Jan. 1920, cont. 15; Scott to Banks, 20 Jan. 1920, cont. 15; Scott to Isaiah Montgomery, 28 Jan. 1920, cont. 21, Scott Papers.

59 Banks to Scott, 8 May 1922, cont. 23; Booze to R. J. Gear, c. 1922, cont. 23; A. W. McLean to Booze, 12 May 1922, cont. 23; Banks to Scott, 8 May 1922, cont. 23; Booze to Scott, 12 May 1922, cont. 23, Scott Papers.

60 Ibid.

61 See Jackson, David, A Chief Lieutenant of the Tuskegee Machine: Charles Banks of Mississippi (Gainesville, Fla., 2002)Google Scholar, for a discussion of the life of Banks and his role as a supporter of Scott and Washington.

62 Dailey, “Emmett Jay Scott,” 359-60; Pace to Scott, 21 Oct. 1921, cont. 28; Pace to Scott, 8 October 1920, cont. 26; Pace to Scott, 5 Nov. 1921, cont. 28; Scott to Holsey, 19 Mar. 1920, cont. 17; Scott to Pace, 30 Nov. 1921, cont. 28, Scott Papers.

63 Scott to Pace, 3 Mar. 1922, cont. 28; Pace to Scott, 13 Apr. 1920, cont. 17; Scott to I. S. Rosenfels, 16 March 1920, cont. 20, Scott Papers.

64 Weems, Robert Jr, Desegregating the Dollar: African American Consumerism in the Twentieth Century (New York, 1998), 16Google Scholar.

65 C. A. Barnett to Scott, 24 Aug. 1921, cont. 23, Scott Papers.

66 C. A. Barnett to Scott, 24 Aug. 1921, cont. 23; Lyman Beecher Stowe to Scott, 27 Dec. 1937, cont. 60; Scott to Raymond Murray, 26 Oct. 1921, cont. 27; Scott to S. H. Dudley and R. H. Murray, 7 Mar. 1922, cont. 25; Scott to Stowe, 15 July 1943, cont. 64; Scott to Stowe, 3 Jan. 1938, cont. 60; Scott to Stowe, 15 July 1943, cont. 64; Essie Robeson to Scott, 6 Nov. 1944, cont. 68; Scott to Essie Robeson, 9 Nov. 1944, cont. 68; Scott to Essie Robeson, 4 Nov. 1944, cont. 68; Ben Tallon to Scott, 28 Apr. 1934, cont. 44, Scott Papers.

67 Scott to William R. Cowan, 3 Feb. 1920, cont. 24; Scott to Oscar Micheaux, 10 Apr. 1920, cont. 19, Scott Papers.

68 Wheeler to Scott, 10 Apr. 1920, cont. 31; Wheeler to Scott, 6 Feb. 1920, cont. 31; Wheeler to Scott, 20 July 1921, cont. 31; Scott to Wheeler, 6 Aug. 1921, cont. 31; Scott to E. L. Grafton, 14 July 1921, cont. 26; Ransom to Scott, 17 Apr. 1920, cont. 20; Scott to Wheeler, 21 Jan. 1920, cont. 31; Wheeler to Scott, 2 Feb. 1920, cont. 31; Scott to Wheeler, 15 Apr. 1920, cont. 31, Scott Papers.

69 B. J. Davis to Scott, 1 Mar. 1920, cont. 14; Scott to Abbott, 28 Feb. 1920, cont. 14; Scott to Calvin Chase, 28 Feb. 1920, cont. 25; Scott to Barnett, 28 Feb. 1920, cont. 15; Scott to R. Tyler, 28 Feb. 1920, cont. 22, Scott Papers.

70 Ransom to Scott, 26 Jan. 1920, cont. 20; Scott to Ransom, 29 Jan. 1920, cont. 20; Perry to Scott, 19 Sept. 1921, cont. 28; Scott to Calvin Chase, 28 Feb. 1920, cont. 14; Scott to Abbott, 28 Feb. 1920, cont. 14; Scott to C. A. Barnett, 28 Feb. 1920, cont. 15, Scott Papers.

71 Emmett Jay Scott, Autobiographical Writings, n.d., cont. 7, Scott Papers, Maceo Crenshaw Dailey Jr., Interview with Alfred Smith, Washington, D.C., 24 Nov. 1981.