Alberta Virginia Scott


Alberta Virginia Scott was an American educator. She was the first African-American graduate of Radcliffe College, in 1898.

Early life

Alberta Virginia Scott was born near Richmond, Virginia, and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where her family moved when she was a little girl. Her family were members of the historic Union Baptist Church in Cambridge. Alberta attended Allston School and then Cambridge Latin School, graduating with the class of 1894.
In 1898, Alberta Virginia Scott became the first African-American graduate of Radcliffe College.

Career

Alberta Scott planned for a career in teaching. She taught in Indianapolis and, briefly, at Tuskegee Institute after graduating from Radcliffe.

Personal life

Alberta Scott died in 1902, in Cambridge, aged 26 years after a 16 month illness attributed to overwork and grief after the loss of her father. "Her death cuts off what should have been a useful and creditable life of work among those of her race," concluded the obituary in a Cambridge newspaper.
There is a placard about Alberta V. Scott in Cambridge, placed by the Cambridge African American History Project in 1993. The Association of Black Harvard Women offers an Alberta V. Scott Mentorship Program, named in her honor.

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