William R. Scott, professor emeritus of history at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, died on May 7 at this home in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was 76 years old.
Dr. Scott was a native of Philadelphia. He was a graduate of Lincoln University of Pennsylvania and earned a master’s degree in American history from Howard University. Professor Scott went on to earn a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in American history at Princeton University.
Dr. Scott joined the faculty at Lehigh University as a full professor in 1992 and served as the first director of the university’s African American studies program. Earlier, he was associate dean and chair of the Black studies program at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, and dean of arts and science at Clark Atlanta University.
Professor Scott was the co-editor of Upon These Shores: Themes in the African American Experience, 1600 to the Present (Routledge, 2000). He also authored The Sons of Sheba’s Race: African Americans and the Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935-1941 (Indiana University Press, 1993).
Bill Scott also served as chair of Black Studies at Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH.