Melvina Brooks Scott was born in Goodman, Mississippi, in 1948 to Shed Brooks Sr. and Sabina Walker Brooks. She had seven brothers and a cousin who was raised as a sister. Her father was a master bricklayer, and her mother worked for Holmes General College. From a young age, Melvina Brooks worked in domestic service with her grandmother, Pheobie Foster Walker. Melvina Brooks eventually moved to Waterloo, Iowa. She earned a bachelor’s degree in social work and did graduate work at the University of Northern Iowa. Brooks married Johnny F. Scott Sr. in 1966. The couple had three children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Scott began a career as an insurance agent in 1977. In 2002, she ran as the Republican candidate for the Iowa Senate (District 11), losing to Democratic candidate Bill Dotzler. She was also a Congressional Aide for congressman Dave Nagle. Scott was an active member in many community organizations and the Payne Memorial A.M.E. Church. From 2004 to 2013 she served as the Executive Director of the African American Historical and Cultural Museum. Melvina Scott died in 2018 at the age of 69. [Biographical information found in Scott’s biography for the African American Voices of Cedar Valley project and in her obituary as published in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier]