Rebecca Jarvis Scott (born July 18, 1950) is an American historian, and Charles Gibson Distinguished University Professor of History and Professor of Law, at University of Michigan.
After earning a MacArthur Fellowship in 1990,[2] Scott joined the faculty at the University of Michigan (UMich) where she founded the Program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies.[3] 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.[4] In 2002, Scott was promoted to the Charles Gibson Distinguished University Professor of History and Professor of Law at UMich[3] and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[5]
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.[6] A few years later, she was appointed the University of Michigan's Henry Russel Lecturer, the university's highest honor for its senior faculty.[7]