Scotlandville, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Scotlandville is a community in northern Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was originally a small, independent rural community that developed along the Mississippi river in northern East Baton Rouge Parish.^[1] Only one African-American family lived in the village in 1914 when Southern University and A&M College was relocated to this community. Originally based in New Orleans, the university was designated in 1890 as the state's land grant college for African Americans, when education was segregated in the state.

Gradually Scotlandville became industrialized, beginning with a Standard Oil refinery in 1909, and was a destination of African Americans to urban areas in the Great Migration beginning around World War I. Its growth was stimulated also by construction of railroads along the Mississippi River. While still independent, Scotlandville became the largest majority-black community in the state. In the 20th century, it was incorporated into Baton Rouge.

History[]

Scotlandville was gradually settled after the United States acquired this territory. It was a rural area farmed after the Civil War by an assortment of European Americans and freedmen. The only African-American family living in the village before the establishment of Southern University in 1914 was that of William "Dreher" Kelly and his wife Priscilla. The area was mostly farmland into the early 20th century, with other black farmers and sharecroppers.^[1]

In 1912 the state of Louisiana bought 531 acres in Scotlandville for the construction of the relocated Southern University and A&M College, a historically black college and land grant college. The state legislature wanted it moved from New Orleans to an area with more land. The state later acquired another 372 acres to support the agricultural portion of its curriculum. Southern University was built on Scott's Bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.

When Standard Oil Company opened a processing plant here in 1909, it attracted many new workers, including rural black migrants from other areas of the state, and immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. It operated for decades, providing good jobs for graduates of Southern University.

After World War II, black veterans such as Acie Belton of Scotlandville organized voter registration drives in order to overcome the disenfranchisement of most African Americans. In 1946 there were only 137 black voters registered in East Baton Rouge Parish. In the next few years, he and others increased the number of black registered voters in the parish to more than 2,000, mostly from Scotlandville. Knowing that engagement in politics was critical, they and other leaders continued with civil rights activities into the 1960s and later. They established the Second Ward Voters League during this early registration movement, and it still is active in evaluating and endorsing candidates.^[2]

Government and infrastructure[]

Today Scotlandville is a community within Baton Rouge and overseen by its government. the East Baton Rouge Parish government.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Library operates the Scotlandville Branch Library. The library first opened on July 1, 1974, in a leased property, in a 2,550-square-foot (237 m²) building of a strip-style shopping center controlled by Horatio Thompson. The library temporarily closed on August 20, 2001. It moved into a 17,985-square-foot (1,670.9 m²) stand-alone building and reopened in October 2001.^[3]

Jetson Center for Youth (JCY), a former youth prison operated by the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice (OJJ) in a nearby unincorporated area close to Baker, is near Scotlandville and was at one time known by the same name. In January 2014 the residents were relocated to other Office of Juvenile Justice facilities, and JCY was closed.^[4] As of 2017 Jetson housed Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women (LCIW) prisoners displaced by flooding as well as the LCIW administration.^[5]

Education[]

The East Baton Rouge Parish School System manages the public schools from K-12. Scotlandville Magnet High School is located in Scotlandville. Press L. Robinson, a Southern University administrator and professor of chemistry, was the first African American elected to the parish school board in modern times. He served for 22 years, including one term as vice-president and three terms as president.^[6]

Southern University and A&M College has been located in Scotlandville since 1914. From a small school of 500 students through 1938, in the post-World War II era, it expanded to 10,000 students by the late 1960s and through the 1990s. From the beginning, the presence of the college stimulated related businesses and encouraged more blacks to settle in the area, including faculty and staff. This became the largest black-majority community in the state before World War II.

The community college for area residents is Baton Rouge Community College, founded in 1995.

References[]

• Emanuel, Rachel L.; Ruby Jean Simms; and Charles Vincent. Scotlandville. Arcadia Publishing, June 1, 2015. ISBN 1439651582, 9781439651582.