Longwood’s first African-American graduate speaks at MLK Symposium

January 2012

N.H. “Cookie” Scott related her experience as a Longwood freshman in 1968 in the keynote address at Longwood University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium in January.

When Scott participated in orientation as a freshman in 1968, she was told she would not be welcome on Sunday morning at the downtown church where she was attending a required candlelight service. The day she moved onto campus, her mother was refused service when she tried to eat at the lunch counter at a department store on Main Street.

Scott, however, was not deterred by the racism of that era—in fact, she was motivated by it to become a stronger person. She went on to become Longwood’s first African-American graduate and is now deputy director of administration for the Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC). She returned to campus in January to share her story and to commemorate the life and legacy of the civil rights leader who paved the way for her and others.

“It’s good to be back here with a good feeling,” said Scott. “I’m not bitter about anything that happened [in Farmville], but I would say the church experience changed me—it didn’t make me angry, just sad.”
 Scott’s primary message for the day was that good people—and not so good people—come in all colors.