Rebecca J. Scott


Rebecca Jarvis Scott is an American historian, and Charles Gibson Distinguished University Professor of History and Professor of Law, at University of Michigan.

Early life and education

Scott was born on July 18, 1950, in Athens, Georgia to parents Andrew and Anne Scott. She graduated from Radcliffe College with an A.B., from the London School of Economics with an M. Phil in economic history and from Princeton University with a Ph.D.

Career

After earning a MacArthur Fellowship in 1990, Scott joined the faculty at the University of Michigan where she founded the Program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. During this time, she co-wrote Beyond Slavery: Explorations of Race, Labor, and Citizenship in Postemancipation Societies with Frederick Cooper and Thomas C. Holt. The book explored the journey from slavery to freedom and how it impacted society. In 2002, Scott was promoted to the Charles Gibson Distinguished University Professor of History and Professor of Law at UMich and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In 2008, Scott's book Degrees of Freedom: Louisiana and Cuba after Slavery received the Frederick Douglass Book Prize for the best book on slavery or abolition. A few years later, she was appointed the University of Michigan's Henry Russel Lecturer, the University's highest honor for its senior faculty.

Works