DON 'OGBEWII' SCOTT, SR.
Elkins Park, Pennsylvania 19027 E-mail: dscott9703@gmail.com OR dscott9703@aol.com  Curriculum Vitae Web Address: https://sites.google.com/site/donscottscurriculumvitae/experience History-Media-Political Columns -- Digital First Media Company: Higher Education Scholarship Focus:
Abolitionist journalism, literature and history during the American Colonial and Civil War periods; historical and contemporary mass communication (including popular culture, mergers and acquisitions); researching and chronicling African-connected genealogy as a lecturer and/or professor at Temple University, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Peirce College, Cheyney University and the Community College of Philadelphia; published books or major contributions in The Oxford University Press via Harvard University, Houghton-Mifflin Co., Schiffer Publishing, The History Press, Arcadia Publishing, TimBookTu.com, Senator John Heinz History Center and Pennsylvania Civil War 150 Current Research & Working Manuscript: African-Descended People on the Titanic & Impact on Modern Culture, Ethnicity & Black Liberation - Introduction & six book chapters completed concerning the black Haitian Joseph Laroche (with genealogy roots to Haiti's revolutionary leader Jean Jacques Dessalines) and his interracial family on the Titanic, as well as Victor Gaitain Andrea Giglio of Italian and Egyptian ancestry who was an administrative assistant of industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim. The book also focuses on the Egyptian translator, Hamad Hassam Bureik, an associate of the affluent American entrepreneur Henry Harper. The manuscript further explores the important backdrop of black culture in America during the early 1900s as it relates to African Americans' reactions to the 1912 sinking of the Titanic considering the roles of the heavyweight champion boxer Jack Johnson, as well as musician-entertainer Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter who composed period lyrics and music about the tragedy that's associated with the black poetic phenomenon "Shine," sarcastically recited in black social settings and a precursor of modern rap and hip-hop. The book involves Laroche's well-known novelist cousin, Jacques Roumain, becoming a legendary defender of black Haitian culture in solidarity with such friends and Harlem Renaissance luminaries as writers Zora Neal Hurston and Langston Hughes. Profoundly, the book considers the impact of that catastrophic event on black culture, highlighting how white elitism ignored the tremendous undercurrent of multiculturalism, while promoting classism, racism and other societal ills that still impact us today. Surviving Racist Fury: My Family Slave Roots to the 18th-Century - The book will also focus on my Gullah-Geechee, Sea Island ancestors who included several (formerly enslaved) black Union veterans of the Civil War and Bilali Muhammad (c. 1770-1857), an enslaved West African held on Sapelo Island of Georgia who wrote America's first Islamic legal treatise with roots to West Africa's Muslim traditions and early teachings. Other Gullah-Geechee ancestors (blacks retaining African religious, dietary and artistic traits to West Africa) range from an enslaved woman named Eve (born in 1790), one of dozens of my maternal ancestors "owned" by the Edwards' family of Spring Island to those held by the Butler family of Georgia's Butler Island who were victims of the "Weeping Time," the largest recorded slave sale in American history. Others had connections to the Middleton family (whose patriarch was Declaration of Independence signer Arthur Middleton) with 19 plantations stretching from Charleston, SC to that state's Beaufort County and beyond. Some likely had blood ties to the former slave Andrew Bryan, founder of the First Baptist Church of Savannah, Ga., who stuck to his freedom-fighting principles, despite being gruesomely tortured and beaten; his close associate, the Rev. George Liele, traveled to Jamaica, whose teachings later influencing Pan-African leader Marcus Garvey. Bryan's church, the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Ga. is known as the "Oldest Continuous African American Baptist Church in North America. I am also investigating links to DNA cousins with historic figures in their family trees, including the civil rights' icon, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; Sally Hemings, who was enslaved and had at least one child with President Thomas Jefferson and Elijah Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam. The book will synthesize my thoughts about the impact of my ancestors' experiences (that included forced relationships and rape, family separations and lynching) on me as a modern African American and the need for blacks in America to become broader Pan-African thinkers and activists concerning religion, politics, global patriotism, reparations and connecting to their African origins. Professorial Endeavors: Community College of Philadelphia – Assistant Professor, Instructor, Visiting Lecturer - Teach research writing, mass communication, as well as English composition, including advanced literature, based on work of contemporary/classical writers, journalists and social theorists with an emphasis on historical events. Also, teach remedial and research-writing courses focusing on journalistic and Internet-research techniques. Students also researched, wrote and edited (online and conventional) class publications, Flash*Point and Media Perspectives. Teaching distance-education courses via Canvas Learning Management Platform. (September 1993 to Present) The Community College of Philadelphia Activities: - Board member of the Teaching Center - Co-edited English Department technology plan - English Department Hiring Committee Member - Advisor to the student newspaper, The Vanguard - Participated in NEH program to infuse English courses with black studies' topics - Organized mass communication seminars that included award-winning journalists - Training in Canvas academic platform for conventional, hybrid and online courses - Featured in cable broadcast interview conducted by the Vice President of Academic Affairs about black Civil War soldiers and associated abolitionist writers, activists Teaching & Administering at Other Higher Education Institutions: Peirce College – Adjunct Professor – Teach advanced literature and business communication courses at this four-year business institution of higher learning. (September 1999 to 2005) Temple University – Adjunct Professor – Teach first-year English course to mass communication majors emphasizing the theme, "courage in journalism," with guest lecturer David Zucchino, the Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist of The Philadelphia Inquirer. (Fall 2000) Cheyney University -- Adjunct Professor -- Taught English 101, mass communication and advanced news reporting courses. (September 1993 to May 1995) University of Pennsylvania (School of Engineering and Applied Science) -- Assistant to the Dean -- In charge of governmental-clearance correspondence and related matters, graduate-school applications, as well as records' preservation and coordination, special events and various recruitment publications pertaining to undergraduate engineering students. (Summer 1986 to Spring 1988) Selected Courses Taught: - Research Writing (English 102 with a focus on the Colonial-era to the Civil War) - Mass Communication and Society (English 107) - Business Communication (English 112) - History of Popular Music and Literature (Humanities 118) - News Editing (220) - Advanced News Editing (221) - Advanced News Writing (311) - Advanced Feature Writing (312) - Reading Across Disciplines (English 108 with a focus on the history of mass media, breaking news, science, medicine and technology) - Composition (English 101 with a focus on social movements and war reporting/media coverage)- African-American Literature 250 (pre-Colonial through the Civil War) - African-American Literature 251 (Civil War through the Harlem Renaissance) Sponsored and hosted college symposiums and lectures featuring: - Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Acel Moore of The Philadelphia Inquirer (discussed news careers and relevance during class trip); - Class trip to observe editorial board deliberations at The Philadelphia Inquirer hosted by staff writer Sally Downey; - Class trip to CBS 3 Eyewitness News studio in Philadelphia during live broadcasts featuring anchor Pat Ciarrocchi; - Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist David Zucchino of The Philadelphia Inquirer for series on South African apartheid; - Jonathan Storm (Philadelphia Inquirer television columnist); - Overseas Press Club's winner, journalist-author Mark Bowden (author of Black Hawk Down); - Philadelphia TV-10's Chief Meteorologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz (Philadelphia Broadcast Hall of Fame); - Emmy winning anchor-reporter Monique Braxton of NBC-10 featuring televised segment, and - 15-time Emmy Award-winner anchor Jim Donovan of CBS 3 Eyewitness News My Selected Speaking and Broadcast Appearances:  - Featured commentator in PBS television production, The Montiers: An American Story - WHYY, 2019 & 2020- Featured 2019 interview with PCN-TV, The African American Experience, Camp William Penn & the African-American Soldier - Featured 2016 interview with Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) Pa. Books, Camp William Penn & the Civil War - Community College of Philadelphia televised interview on channel 53's Dialogues: Donald Scott - YouTubeabout Camp William Penn's black warriors (2011-2012) - Co-panelist with Dr. Liliane Weissberg of the University of Pennsylvania in the Edgar Allan Poe (2015) symposium, 'RACE, POE AND PHILADELPHIA - Keynote speaker for the Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies (2014) about the African characteristics of black Civil War soldiers - Keynote speaker for the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) statewide (2012) television program concerning Camp William Penn's black Civil War soldiers at the National Archives in Philadelphia - Keynote speaker at National Freedom Day Ceremonies at First District Plaza (2008), Philadelphia, Pa. for the African Methodist Episcopal Church A full list of engagements is below. Columnist/Editor/Staff Writer: MediaNews Group - (Digital First Media Co.) - Columnist - Write about historical places and people for this Southeastern Pennsylvania newspaper chain. (December 1995 to February 2020) Delaware County Daily Times - Business Editor/Reporter and Columnist - Primary editor overseeing production of daily business sections and special projects. Wrote major business/science articles (specializing in biotechnology, defense, retail and the "information superhighway"). Wrote weekly opinion columns. (September 1994 to September 1995) West Chester Daily Local News - Business Editor/Reporter and Columnist - Primary editor overseeing production of daily business sections and special projects. Wrote major business/science articles (specializing in biotechnology, retail and telecommunications). Wrote weekly race-matter opinion columns. (April 1991 to September 1994) University of Delaware Alumni Magazine - Associate Editor - Planned story budget; researched, wrote, edited and proofread features; assisted with layout; proofed galleys; supervised staff; researched, wrote and edited president's annual report; wrote press releases and contacted media. (Magazine folded) (September 1990 to April 1991) Delaware County Daily Times - Reporter - Business and features (temporary). (June to September 1990) The Philadelphia Inquirer (Neighbors, Montgomery County Bureau) - Reporter/Correspondent - General assignment, business, medical and features. (August 1988 to September 1989) Enhance Magazine (Florida) - Contributing Editor - Economics, business, crime and sports. (September 1980 to January 1982) The Miami News - Staff Reporter - Government, business, features, outdoor sports and general assignment news on deadline for Miami Beach edition. Assigned, edited and wrote stories; layout. (Staff layoffs -- Newspaper folded) (January 1980 to December 1982) The Fort Lauderdale News & Sun Sentinel - Staff Reporter - Government, business, features and general assignment news on deadline. (January 1979 to January 1980) Education: Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism -- New York City * Master of Science: Journalism, May 1990 * Majors: Science and Business Writing * Honor's Course: Advanced Opinion Writing * Broadcast Sequence: Television and Radio * Graduate Workshop: Advanced Magazine Writing • Winner of the prestigious Nate Haseltine Science Writing Fellowship at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism with primary advisor, Osborn Elliott, editor of Newsweek magazine and chosen for honor's course (Advance Opinion Writing) by professor and film critic Judith Crist of NBC's Today Show Access: Award Announced  Newsweek legend Osborn Elliott
Cheyney University, Cheyney, Pennsylvania * Bachelor of Arts: English, December 1977 * Minor: Journalism * Activities: News Director, WCSR; Editor, The Record INTERNSHIPS -- The Philadelphia Bulletin, reporter; WPVI-TV Action News (Philadelphia ABC affiliate), production assistant Lincoln University (1972-1973) - Transferred to Cheyney University  Several genealogy-related stories include: RESEARCHING GULLAH-GEECHEE FAMILY SLAVE ANCESTRY Book Highlights: • Schiffer Publishing - Author - Researched and wrote 384-page book, Camp William Penn: 1863-1865, with 130 images about the first and largest federal facility to train almost 11,000 Northern-based black soldiers during the Civil War. (Publication date, December, 2012)
Honorable mention of book in The New York Times (Feb. 2013): Column_by_Eve_Kahn
• Senator John Heinz History Center - Contributing-Author - The Civil War in Pennsylvania: The African American Experience - Wrote book chapter concerning the almost 11,000 black troops at Camp William Penn, the federal facility where the largest amount of African-American soldiers were trained outside of Philadelphia, Pa. during the Civil War. The book consists of "essays from eight scholars of civil rights, emigration, abolitionism, armed resistance, service in the war, etc.," including Samuel Black, editor of the publication and Director of African American Programs and Curator, Senator John Heinz History Center. (Publication date, November, 2013)  • African-American National Biography Book and Online Project (Harvard University-Oxford University Press) – Wrote five biographies for this landmark online (Oxford African American Studies Center) and book project (edited by professors Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Evelyn Higginbotham) about New York Times editorial board member and columnist, Brent Staples; Wesley A. Brown (the first black graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and my father-in-law); the first black Philadelphia city councilwoman, Dr. Ethel Allen; 19th-Century civil rights’ leader Octavius Catto; 19th-Century theologian and activist, Rev. John Gloucester. (Published 2008-2013) OXFORD AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES CENTER ABSTRACTS:
journalist and-author, was born in the shipyard town of Chester, Pennsylvania, to Melvin Staples, a factory worker and truck driver, and Geneva (Patterson) Staples. He was one of nine surviving children who grew up in the working-class industrial town about twenty miles south of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the 1950s and 1960s when street gangs were on the rise and illegal drug use began to soar. Those circumstances were partially caused by manufacturing plants' slamming doors shut under stringent post–World War II economic conditions, as Staples desc ... Show More
educator, activist, and baseball pioneer, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, to Sara Isabella Cain, a woman from a prosperous mixed-race family, and William T. Catto, a Presbyterian minister. When Catto was about five years old, his father relocated the family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after being “called” to the city by the Presbytery and after some time to the ministry of the First African Presbyterian Church, a historic black church formed by the Reverend John Gloucester, a former slave, in 1807. As a youngster Catto attended a number of Philad ... Show More
founder of African American Presbyterianism and abolitionist, born a slave in Kentucky, was a “body servant” called “Jack” and purchased as a young man by the Tennessee Presbyterian minister Gideon Blackburn. Gloucester's parentage is unclear because of his early enslavement; although in 1806, while a member of the New Providence Presbyterian Church of Maryville, Tennessee, he was bought by Blackburn from an undisclosed owner. His intelligence and comprehension of theological principles motivated Blackburn, an evangelical preacher and abolitionist, to unsuccessfu ... Show More
the first African American U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was born John-Wesley Anthony Brown in Baltimore, Maryland, to William Brown, a truck driver, and Rosetta Shepherd, a seamstress. He was named after-John Wesley, the eighteenth-century founder of-Methodism from which the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) denomination was established. Owing to his parents’ demanding work schedules, Brown was raised in large part by his maternal grandmother, Katie Shepherd, sometimes called “Mother Shepherd,” a fierce disciplinarian with whom Brown and his parents liv ... Show More
physician and politician, was one of three children born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Sidney S. Allen Sr., a Georgia native, Democratic committeeperson, and tailor with a seventh-grade education whose dream of becoming a doctor was realized by his daughter. Ethel's mother, the former Effie Jean Goodall, was a Democratic committeeperson born in Maryland who operated a tailoring business with her husband for many years. Ethel Allen became fascinated by medicine and the mysteries of life and death as a child while living in North Philadelphia, and she began t ... Show More  The Rev. John Gloucester: Founder of African American Presbyterianism • The History Press - Author - Researched and wrote 144-page book, Remembering Cheltenham Township, with 63 images regarding its (Pennsylvania) history starting during the early 1680s, focusing on such topics as the "original people" or the Lenape Native Americans, early European Quakers, the slave-holding township co-founder Tobias Leech and other historical residents, including the women's and black rights' advocate Lucretia Mott; the financier of the Civil War, Jay Cooke; student and future aviator Amelia Earhart; baseball hall-of-famer Reggie Jackson; Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and educator-entertainer Bill Cosby. (Published 2009)
• Arcadia Publishing - Author - Researched and wrote 127-page book, Camp William Penn, with almost 200 images about the Civil War training center for black soldiers. The facility, located just northwest of Philadelphia, attracted as speakers, etc., such abolitionists as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Lucretia Mott, William Lloyd Garrison and John Greenleaf Whittier. (Published May 2008)
 • The Jim Crow Encyclopedia (Grambling University-Houghton Mifflin) -- Wrote several comprehensive sections regarding the great migrations of blacks from the South, racism and segregation in South Carolina and police brutality for this Greenwood Press imprint, edited by Grambling University professors Nikki L.M. Brown and Barry M. Stentiford. (Published September 2008)
Commentary and Features: Afrigeneas.com - Features Writer focusing on black family genealogy in South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Wrote major features concerning DNA roots of several family lines, including in South Carolina and Georgia. Articles include Rare Portraits Reflect Black Family's Legacy, Camp Spirituals Expose Slave Ancestors' Past and Tracing Legacy of a Black Civil War Soldier (August 2004 to Present)
 Portraits by Franklin R. Street (Courtesy of Patricia and William Pickens III)
Times Chronicle Newspapers (Digital First Media Co.) - History Columnist - Write about historical places and people for this Southeastern Pennsylvania newspaper chain. (December 1996 to February 2020) Access: FEATURES AND HISTORY COLUMNS
Photo by Don Scott TimBookTu.com: 'Stories, Poetry & Essays with an African-American Flavor' - Wrote feature story about my deceased friend, Wayne, and his life as a fellow black male living and dying tragically in North Philadelphia. See the 2005 story at: LIFE'S GREAT SAFARI. Wharton Magazine (University of Pennsylvania) - Features Writer - Wrote profiles about America's greatest corporate and/or academic leaders, including Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, U.S. Ambassador Lloyd C. Griscom, President F.D. Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor Francis Perkins, Johns-Manville Chairman Leslie M. Cassidy, Sun Oil Chairman Robert G. Dunlop, Johnson & Johnson Chairman Philip B. Hofmann and others. (September 2006 to January 2007)
 Chief Justice Brennan Access: WHARTON LEGENDS Major features written for The Philadelphia Inquirer magazine, The Philadelphia Tribune, The Miami Courier and such national magazines as American Visions, Everton's Family History, Black Collegian, as well as America's Civil War that featured a story about black Civil War troops and abolitionists Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and William Still Access: Camp_William_Penn:_Training_Ground_for_Freedom and Tragedy of Local Families on the Titanic  Please access the above (right) link to read the Titanic story. The Philadelphia Inquirer (Op-Editorial Commentary): How black was Jesus Christ? Article concerning the multi-ethnicity of Jesus Christ and the irony of biblical-justified slavery, as well as the triumphs of African Americans. (April 6, 1996)
 Contributing Writer: PA Civil War 150.com (Pennsylvania Heritage Society and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission) - Wrote major features concerning the life of Civil War Medal of Honor winner Sgt. Alexander Kelly of the 6th United States Colored Troops (USCT) and Camp William Penn, the first and largest federal facility to train such black Northern-based soldiers during the Civil War. (2011-2012)  Camp William Penn's black soldiers on parade during the Civil War at the facility outside of Philadelphia
---------------------------------------------------------- Temple University Libraries (Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection): Article regarding the legacies of Camp William Penn warriors and the involvement of William Still, the "father of the Underground Railroad," at that first and largest federal facility to train Northern-based black soldiers during the Civil War. (Published Spring, 2012) Access: William Still and Camp William Penn warriors' legacies Ancestors Magazine (National Archives of England) - Wrote major feature story concerning U.S. black anti-slavery abolitionists and others who migrated to Great Britain during the 1800s. (Published October 2006) Access: On the TransAtlantic Freedom Trail (Issue 50) Everton's Family History Magazine - Nation's top genealogy magazine featured my story about the Widener family's tragic experience regarding the sinking of the Titanic. (Published May/June 2004) The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation - Contributing writer for the massive online (CultureFiles) project detailing cultural and historic sites in Southeastern Pennsylvania with a focus on Philadelphia. Entries included: Bushfire Theatre of Performing Arts, Paul Robeson House, Fort Mifflin, The Johnson House, Marian Anderson Historical Residence Museum, Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME Church, Pennypacker Mills, and Pennsylvania Hospital. (Spring 2005) Black Collegian magazine (national distribution) – Wrote major feature about job-seeking advice for college graduates with high-technology degrees. (October 1997) American Visions magazine (national distribution) – Wrote major feature about African-American migration and tourism. (February-March 2000) The Pennsylvania Gazette – (Founded by Benjamin Franklin) Wrote major feature about Joe Watkins, a University of Pennsylvania graduate who became a key member of President George Bush Sr.’s team in The White House. (May 1992)
Researcher/Lecturer/Writer Pennsylvania Humanities Council – Commonwealth Speaker – Researched, wrote and lectured about abolitionist writers and the African traits of Pennsylvania colonial blacks (January 2002 through December 2004); lectures and book-signing engagements regarding Camp William Penn and the United States Colored Troops from May 2008 to present Presented at such locales as:
- Independence Mall National Historic Visitor’s Center, Philadelphia, Pa. - National Archives, Philadelphia, Pa. - U.S. National Energy Technology Laboratory, Pittsburgh, Pa. - National Civil War Museum, Harrisburg, Pa.
- Molefi Kete Asante Institute of Afrocentric Studies - U.S. Department of Labor, Philadelphia, Pa. - Union League of Philadelphia
- Temple University: Underground Railroad and Black History Conference, Philadelphia, Pa.
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Sponsored by the Library Company of Philadelphia) - Keynote speaker at National Freedom Day Ceremonies at First District Plaza, Philadelphia, Pa. - Grand Army of the Republic, Frankford (Philadelphia, Pa.) - Atwater Kent Museum, Philadelphia, Pa. - Daniel Boone Homestead, Berks County, Pa. - Stenton House, Philadelphia, Pa. - Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Lancaster, Pa. - Reading Museum, Reading, Pa. - Delaware County Community College, Delaware County, Pa. - United States Colored Troops Symposium, Harrisburg, Pa. - 3rd Regiment United States Colored Troops Annual Dinner, Philadelphia, Pa. - Cheltenham Township Centennial Celebration, Cheltenham, Pa. - Hope Lodge Historic Site, Whitemarsh, Pa. - Penn Charter School, Philadelphia, Pa. - Barnes & Noble Book Stores: Philadelphia-Center City, Jenkintown, King of Prussia - Old York Road Genealogy Society Camp William Penn Film Interviews & Presentations: • Shamelle Jordan (Louis Massiah Studio) Summer 2008 • Citizens for the Restoration of Historic LaMott (CROHL) Summer 2008 • Community College of Philadelphia televised interview on channel 53's Dialogues with the Vice President of Academic Affairs (2011-2012) • National Archives televised lecture via the state-wide Pennsylvania Cable Network (PNC) (2011-2012)  The televised presentation can be accessed at: 'Saluting Camp William Penn' PAST AND PRESENT AFFILIATIONS: Organization of American Historians, National Association of Black Journalists, Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists (Membership Chair), National Association for the Advancement Colored People (NAACP-Cheltenham Branch Board), Abraham Lincoln Foundation Board of the Union League of Philadelphia, Citizens for the Restoration of Historic LaMott (CROHL Board), Hope Lodge Historic Site Board, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Library Company of Philadelphia, Montgomery County Historical Society, Old York Road Historical Society, Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities
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4.4K - Feb. 28, 2016; scored 1000.0
