PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (October 21, 2020) – When noted historian Maceo C. Dailey passed away in 2015, he left behind an unfinished manuscript on the life of Houston-born Emmett J. Scott. It was expected to become one of the first and most thorough biographies of the man who was a prominent journalist, editor, government official, author, advisor, and personal ghostwriter to Booker T. Washington. The project languished until Texas Tech University Press signed a contract for Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) scholar and professor of history Will Guzmán, Ph.D., to pick up and complete the manuscript. This summer, Guzmán was awarded a Mellon Foundation Faculty Development Grant to work toward a publication.
Maceo C. Dailey, Ca. 1970
“I first met Maceo C. Dailey in the fall of 1999 while on the campus of Florida A&M University. He encouraged me to pursue a Ph.D. in the history department [at the University of Texas, El Paso], which I did. I arrived in August 2000. Over the years, we often talked of the ebbs and flows that the EJS story had undertaken,” Guzmán said.
Dailey began the project when he was a Ph.D. student in the 1970s. He undertook decades of extensive research on Scott’s life. Knowing the amount of work that had gone into researching and writing the manuscript, in 2018, Guzmán began inquiring to find out what had become of Dailey’s draft and whether it might be completed and published.
There were legal hurdles to overcome, but Guzmán was able to locate the manuscript, obtain the necessary clearances, and move forward with publication. The Mellon Foundation grant will enable him to continue editing and preparing the manuscript for publication.
“The Mellon Center is excited to support Dr. Guzman. He is making a significant contribution with this work,” said Mellon Center Director William T. Hoston, Ph.D.
Emmett J. Scott & Booker T. Washington, Ca. 1900
Guzmán’s primary task is to restructure and organize the manuscript and take it from 225,000 words to a more standard length of 150,000 words. He has been in close contact with an archivist at Morgan State University, where Scott’s papers are housed, to gain access to the E.J. Scott Collection. Because of COVID-19 and a current project to rehouse the collection, it has been challenging to access Scott’s papers. However, Guzmán tentatively has plans to visit the collection in person sometime this fall.
“David Levering Lewis and Elaine Brown will be providing the foreword and afterword for the book, respectively,” he said.
A foreword is similar to a brief introduction to a book, and an afterword is similar to a conclusion. Someone other than the author of the manuscript usually does both.
“Lewis, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, wrote one of the seminal works on W.E.B. Du Bois. And Brown, a direct descendant of Scott, is also a best-selling author and civil rights activist. I am honored to be associated with these two legends,” Guzmán said. “Also, Maceo recruited me to attend UTEP and directed my dissertation. My efforts in this book project is an opportunity to express my gratitude for his intellectual guidance.”
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By Jocelyn Kerr