Family of Rosa Scott visits namesake’s school

MADISON — Descendants of Rosa Scott, for whom the Madison ninth-grade Rosa Scott School is named, visited the school on Monday to present a biography of the school’s namesake to the school library.

“It means so much to be able to share this information about Rosa Scott with this community and allow her legacy to live on,” said Margaret Bernstein, a great-granddaughter of Scott. “We couldn’t be more excited to meet all these people: members of the Rosa Scott community, past graduates, former principals, and more. It’s so exciting.”

Bernstein was one of 12 descendants of Scott, including grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, who along with school officials and numerous community members, attended the Monday ceremony at Scott’s graveside on the school grounds.

Scott, born in 1874, was a pioneer in Madison County education for the Black community. She served as principal at the middle school in Madison, for which she helped raise funds to build. At that time the school served an all-Black student body. Over the years, the school has changed, grown and become the ninth-grade school at 200 Crawford St. that bears Rosa Scott’s name.

Following Scott’s death in 1938 she was buried on the school grounds.

Bernstein said she and Scott’s other 11 family members traveled from as far away as California, Ohio, Illinois and Mexico to attend Monday’s event. She said the reception they received was “completely worth the trip.”

Bernstein said she felt special because her aunt, Rosa Mary Gaylor, wrote the biography of her great-grandmother and the family members wanted to offer it to the school.

Rosa Scott School Principal Brent Cofield said he was glad and honored that Scott’s descendants came from so far away to visit the campus and present the biography to the school.

“The family reached out to me in early June and told me they wanted to come to visit to lay flowers on Mrs. Scott’s grave and get a few pictures,” Cofield said. “We wanted to do a little more than that, and pay our tributes to her legacy and remember what she has left on this campus, school and community.”