The Professor is in.
"When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else"- Toni Morrison
Founded by Dr. La-Toya Scott, In House Scholar is where academic rigor meets public imagination. It’s a home for ideas that live beyond the classroom—where literature, culture, and social critique move through digital media, performance, and everyday conversation.
Through teaching, writing, and public engagement, Dr. Scott builds bridges between scholarship and lived experience. Her work examines Black sanctuary, resistance, and storytelling across time and media, inviting audiences to think critically and feel deeply.
At its heart, In House Scholar redefines what it means to be a scholar today: accessible, rooted in justice, and fluent in the language of culture.
This page is not affiliated with any University.
About Me:
My name is Dr. La-Toya Scott, PhD and I am a Professor of African American Literature and Culture in Texas, a cultural curator, and a 2025 TEDx Talk Speaker. My passion is in cultivating safe spaces for people to learn about Black culture and engage intellectually with works created by Black and marginalized people. I specialize in 19th, 20th and 21st Century African American literature, digital ethnographic studies, Multi-ethnic studies, Black feminist-womanist pedagogy, African American rhetorics, spatial geographies, scholar-activism, and social justice rhetoric to action.
My work in the field includes:
RESEARCH
Books
In Hush to Harbor: Black Sanctuaries from Slavery to Trump’s America by La-Toya Scott forthcoming (Rutgers University Press July 2026)
Select Articles (Refereed)
Ikard, David, and La-Toya Scott. “‘It Ain’t Enough’: Toni Morrison and the tragic dark-skin girl motif.” Women Gender and Families of Color, vol. 11, no. 1, 2023, pp. 49–71, https://doi.org/10.5406/23260947.11.1.03.
Scott, L. (2022). Lovecraft Country Programmed Safe Spaces, Themed Spatial Geographies, and the Negro Has Magic. Supernatural Studies, 7(2). https://www.supernaturalstudies.com/previous-journal-issues/vol-7-issue-2/scott
Gonzales, L., Scott, L., Williams, K., & Baldwin, A. (2021). Feminist Love Letters: On Testimony, Bridges, and Rhetoric. Peitho, 23(4). https://cfshrc.org/journal/peitho-volume-23-issue-4-summer-2021/
And more…
Plant the seeds and watch them grow.
Books & Media Discussion.
The stories of others is what has inspired me to take more agency over mine. Learning about people’s journeys often serve as a reflection of the intricacies of our own. A good read is not only food for thought but it is also food for the soul. In addition to this, film and media have also worked hand in hand with illustrating relatable narratives and have provided a means in starting important conversations our community should be discussing.
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Photo by: @suitandtylor
Bridging the Gap.
Everything that I learn and teach at a university campus should be accessible to my community and not just people that can afford a course at an institution with a price tag in the thousands. Here, I will add what I can when I can in reference to educational tools on race, gender, sexuality, and disability. As I grow, we grow. Feel free to access a course syllabus here.
Photo by: @suitandtylor
For the Culture.
We are living in the age of a modern day Black Renaissance, and a Civil Rights Movement, . Shall I say more!
Check Back Soon!