"It is these broken utterances can in any way help to a clearer vision and a truer pulse-beat in studying the Nation's Problem, this Voice by a Black Woman of the South will not have been raised in vain." ~Anna Julia Cooper (August 10, 1859 -1964)
Photo: Moorland-Spingarn Research Center,
Howard University
After spending a lovely evening with my dear friend, Shirley, I was intrigued by her research about one of America's pioneering feminists -Anna J. Cooper. Shirley is a true scholar in the way she brings her research to light and draws you into the modern day relevance and depth of the words left behind by the subject. (Trust me, you will be reading her books very soon).
Anna J. Cooper was an educator and writer, was born a slave in Raleigh, NC. Educated in 1867 at St. Augustine's Normal and Collegiate Institute in Raleigh, she earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees from Oberlin College in Ohio. In 1925 at the age of 65, she earned the Ph.D. degree from the Sorbonne in Paris, France.
Dr. Cooper taught on the college level for several years before coming to Washington, D.C. as principal of M Street High School (now Dunbar High School) from 1902 to 1906. However much of her career was dedicated to the Frelinghuysen University in Washington, D.C., an adult education night school that offered courses in academic, religious and trade programs for blacks. Of the city's many universities and trade schools, only one accepted black students.
Dr. Cooper, president of Frelinghuysen University from 1930 to 1940, was a staunch proponent of education for females. She believed strongly that education was the key to social equality for women and that access to higher education was cr
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