Education to Action: A Humanities Blueprint for Remaking Democracy

Join the Frederick Douglass Center for Leadership Through the Humanities as we host Dr. Terry Scott and Dr. David Domke for our Lessons in Leadership Speakers Series. Dr. Scott, a historian, and Dr. Domke, communication scholar, left their tenured positions in the academy to lead the Institute for Common Power which catalyzes people from education to action through experiential learning opportunities to foster a firm commitment to the right to vote. They co-lead the Truth and Purpose Learning Tour for Educators. In this conversation, they will share insights on how their training in the humanities informs their leadership and their efforts to combat the erasure of truth, their engagement with educators, and the long struggle for an inclusive democracy. Scott (who will join in-person) and Domke (who will join virtually) will be in conversation with Dr. Quincy Mills, Director of the Douglass Center. 

Dr. Terry Scott is the Director of the Institute for Common Power. She is a former Professor of African American History and Chair of the Department of History at Hood College. She is the author of several books, including Lynching and Leisure: Race and the Transformation of Mob Violence in Texas (winner of the 2022 Ottis Lock Endowment Best Book Award) and the forthcoming authorized biography From Bed-Stuy to the Hall of Fame: The Unexpected Life of Lenny Wilkens. Dr. Scott helped lead the creation and implementation of a course on African American Studies for high school students in Maryland’s Frederick Public School System and is a board member of the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project.

Dr. David Domke worked as a journalist for several newspapers in the 1980s and early 1990s before earning a PhD in 1996. He served as a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington until retirement in 2021. His research focused on communication, politics, and public opinion in the United States. He is the author (with K. Coe) of The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon and (with L. Meeks) "When Politics is a Woman's Game: Party and Gender Ownership in Woman-versus-Woman Elections," among other publications. At Common Power he supports the staff through raising money, teaching about voting rights, and providing political analysis and strategy.

Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Time: 5:00 pm - 6:15 pm - Reception to follow

Location: Tawes Hall, Room 1100