A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South

“We are the heirs of a past which was not our fathers’ moulding. ‘Every man the arbiter of his own destiny’ was not true for the American Negro of the past: and it is no fault of his that he finds himself to-day the inheritor of a manhood and womanhood impoverished and debased by two centuries and more of compression and degradation. […] Now the fundamental agency under God in the regeneration, the re-training of the race, as well as the ground work and starting point of its progress upward, must be the black woman. […] Our meager and superficial results from past efforts prove their futility; and every attempt to elevate the Negro, whether undertaken by himself or through the philanthropy of others, cannot but prove abortive unless so directed as to utilize the indispensable agency of an elevated and trained womanhood.”

Cooper highlights the indelible legacy of slavery. During Reconstruction, African Americans were still traumatized by a long history of dehumanization and oppression that made the quest for self-discovery and empowerment necessary. Cooper notes that Black people must assume responsibility to uplift their own community. She stresses the necessity of organizing to achieve progress and reiterates the centrality of Black women in the quest for justice. Without the agency of Black women, the claiming of Black people’s humanity could not be achieved.

“That past work in this direction has been unsatisfactory we must admit. That without a change of policy results in the future will be as meagre, we greatly fear. Our life as a race is at stake. The dearest interests of our hearts are in the scales. We must either break away from dear old landmarks and plunge out in any line and every line that enables us to meet the pressing need of our people, or we must ask the Church to allow and help us, untrammelled by the prejudices and theories of individuals, to work aggressively under her direction as we alone can, with God’s help, for the salvation of our people. The time is ripe for action. Self-seeking and ambition must be laid on the altar. The battle is one of sacrifice and hardship, but our duty is plain.”

The passage illustrates the potential dangers if Black people’s freedom was not achieved. Cooper highlights the necessity of new policies and organizing of the African American community, as their future was under threat. Cooper’s call to “action” is ultimately a request for new forms of activism, devoted to Black people’s cause. She illustrates that the quest for equality did not end with emancipation and that the racial struggle would be ongoing.

“Mercy, the lesson she teaches, and Truth, the task man has set himself, should meet together: that righteousness, or rightness, man’s ideal,—and peace, it’s necessary ‘other half,’ should kiss each other. We must thank the general enlightenment and independence of woman (which we may now regard as a fait accompli) that both these forces are now at work in the world, and it is fair to demand from them for the twentieth century a higher type of civilization than any attained in the nineteenth. Religion, science, art, economics, have all needed the feminine flavor; and literature, the expression of what is permanent and best in all of these, may be gauged at any time to measure the strength of the feminine ingredient.”

Cooper supports the higher education of women and stresses their essential role in all aspects of society and culture, highlighting a theme of the book about The Importance of Education in Empowering the Black Community. To criticize a world of male domination, she emphasizes women’s humanizing characteristics: their love, kindness, and morality. She anticipates a more progressive society in the 20th century, one in which the female force would heal the suffering of the world and revitalize culture.

“All I claim is that there is a feminine as well as a masculine side to truth; that these are related not as inferior and superior, not as better and worse, not as weaker and stronger, but as complements—complements in one necessary and symmetric whole. That as the man is more noble in reason, so the woman is more quick in sympathy. That as he is indefatigable in pursuit of abstract truth, so is she in caring for the interests by the way—striving tenderly and lovingly that not one of the least of these ‘little ones’ should perish. […] That both are needed to be worked into the training of children, in order that our boys may supplement their virility by tenderness and sensibility, and our girls may round out their gentleness by strength and self-reliance.”

The passage shows that Cooper’s writing is informed by the social and cultural context of her time. While she ascribes characteristics in femininity and masculinity that reiterate notions of gender roles, she also argues for men’s and women’s equality. For Cooper, women, while different, are not inferior to men. The feminine and the masculine are two parts of the human whole. Her argument ultimately challenges essentialist notions of gender, as she argues that both traits are necessary in children’s upbringing. Femininity and masculinity can and should be expressed by both men and women as part of their humanity.

“It seems hardly a gracious thing to say, but it strikes me as true, that while our men seem thoroughly abreast of the times on almost every other subject, when they strike the woman question they drop back into sixteenth century logic. They leave nothing to be desired generally in regard to gallantry and chivalry, but they actually do not seem sometimes to have outgrown that old contemporary of chivalry—the idea that women may stand on pedestals or live in doll houses, (if they happen to have them) but they must not furrow their brows with thought or attempt to help men tug at the great questions of the world. I fear the majority of colored men do not yet think it worthwhile that women aspire to higher education.”

The passage demonstrates Cooper’s Black feminist viewpoint as she addressed gender discrimination within the African American community in the late 19th century. She criticizes Black men’s sexism that believed in the domesticity of Black women and discouraged their pursuit of education. While recognizing their important role at home, Cooper advocated for women’s agency in the social and political sphere as equal citizens.

“Indeed, she had not calculated that there were any wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters, except white ones; and she is really convinced that Whimodaughsis would sound just as well, and then it need mean just white mothers, daughters and sisters. […] Whimodaughsis might be a little startling, and on the whole wives would better yield to white; since clearly all women are not wives, while surely all wives are daughters. The daughters therefore could represent the wives and this immaculate assembly for propagating liberal and progressive ideas and disseminating a broad and humanizing culture might be spared the painful possibility of the sight of a black man coming in the future to escort from an evening class this solitary cream-colored applicant.”

Cooper’s Black feminist thought becomes evident again as she criticizes racial discrimination within white feminist organizations during the women’s suffragist movement. Her analysis highlights the contradiction of proclaiming progressive ideologies and fighting for human rights while discriminating against Black women or Black men. The passage illustrates early conflicts within the feminist movement and indicates that Black activists and intellectuals like Cooper addressed the importance of race, class, and gender in the feminist cause as early as the late 19th century.

“Indeed, the Southerner is a magnificent manager of men, a born educator. For two hundred and fifty years he trained to his hand a people whom he made absolutely his own, in body, mind, and sensibility. He so insinuated differences and distinctions among them, that their personal attachment for him was stronger than for their own brethren and fellow sufferers. He made it a crime for two or three of them to be gathered together in Christ’s name without a white man’s supervision, and a felony for one to teach them to read even the Word of Life; […] He showed his blood broadcast among them, then pitted mulatto against black, bond against free, house slave against plantation slave, even the slave of one clan against like slave of another clan; till, wholly oblivious of their ability for mutual succor and defence, all became centers of myriad systems of repellent forces, having but one sentiment in common, and that their entire subjection to that master hand.”

Cooper describes the legacy of slavery in the South and the way it reinforced the ideology of white supremacy and the dehumanization of Black people. From slavery originated many forms of discrimination and oppression against African Americans in the South that, despite emancipation, continued to persist in the late 19th century. Southern laws endured the subjugation of Black people, their relegation of the status of the laborer, and the superiority of white men. Cooper illustrates how Southern ideals on race relations continued to influence the socio-political discourse of the nation, as African Americans were beginning to lose the freedoms obtained during Reconstruction.

“My ‘people’ are just like other people—indeed, too like for their own good. They hate, they love, they attract and repel, they climb or they grovel, struggle or drift, aspire or despair, endure in hope or curse in vexation, exactly like all the rest of unregenerate humanity. Their likes and dislikes are as strong; their antipathies—and prejudices too I fear, are as pronounced as you will find anywhere; and the entrance to the inner sanctuary of their homes and hearts is as jealously guarded against profane intrusion. What the dark man wants then is merely to live his own life, in his own world, with his own chosen companions, in whatever of comfort, luxury, or emoluments his talent or his money can in an impartial market secure.”

Cooper makes the case for The Quest for Black Liberation in the Post-Reconstruction Era by proclaiming the humanity of Black people. She does not seek to portray African Americans as ideal or perfect, but only as human. They have equally positive and negative aspects as all human beings. After emancipation, Black people wanted to acquire equal rights as American citizens and create their own lives with self-determination and economical autonomy.

“Woman should not, even by inference, or for the sake of argument, seem to disparage what is weak. For woman’s cause is the cause of the weak; and when all the weak shall have received their due consideration, then woman will have her ‘rights,’ and the Indian will have his rights, and the Negro will have his rights, and all the strong will have learned at last to deal justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly; and our fair land will have been taught the secret of universal courtesy which is after all nothing but the art, the science, and the religion of regarding one’s neighbor as one’s self, and to do for him as we would, were conditions swapped, that he do for us.”

Countering discrimination within the women’s movement, Cooper calls for the unity of all women and proclaims that the woman’s cause is the cause of humanity. She examines the feminist cause through an intersectional lens that promotes equality of all races and classes. She stresses that women’s liberation is so significant that their freedom would ultimately uplift all people.

“The colored woman of to-day occupies, one may say, a unique position in this country. In a period of itself transitional and unsettled, her status seems one of the least ascertainable and definitive of all the forces which make for our civilization. She is confronted by both a woman question and a race problem, and is as yet an unknown or an unacknowledged factor in both. […] But as far as my experience goes the average man of our race is less frequently ready to admit the actual need among the sturdier forces of the world for woman’s help or influence.”

The passage shows that Cooper’s analysis anticipates the development of intersectionality in Black feminist thought, the idea that the intersection of gender, race, and class creates multiple forms of oppression for Black women. Cooper illustrates that Black women face discrimination due to both race and gender. She criticizes Black men’s sexism, noting that, at the time, Black men did not realize the importance of Black women in the cause for equality and justice. Black women’s unique perspective as citizens renders them crucial agents in the understanding and solution of social crises.

“The woman of to-day finds herself in the presence of responsibilities which ramify through the profoundest and most varied interests of her country and race. Not one of the issues of this plodding, toiling, sinning, repenting, falling, aspiring humanity can afford to shut her out, or can deny the reality of her influence. No plan for renovating society, no scheme for purifying politics, no reform in church or in state, no moral, social, or economic question, no movement upward or downward in the human plane is lost on her.”

While Cooper puts emphasis on Black women, she simultaneously speaks for the women’s movement of the period as a whole. Despite persistent racial discrimination, Cooper advocates for the unity of all women and understands their crucial role in the modern era to come. At advent of the 20th century, Cooper stresses that women should play pivotal roles in social and political issues and the creation of a new equalitarian society.

“This is enough to show that the law holds good in sociology as in the world of matter, that equilibrium, not repression among conflicting forces is the condition of natural harmony, of permanent progress, and of universal freedom. That exclusiveness and selfishness in a family, in a community, or in a nation is suicidal to progress. Caste and prejudice mean immobility. One race predominance means death. The community that closes its gates against foreign talent can never hope to advance beyond a certain point. Resolve to keep out foreigners and you keep out progress.”

Cooper presents a positive aspect of racial conflict, that of balance and multiculturalism. The harmonious co-existence of different cultures and traditions creates endless possibilities for progress and evolution. She counters white supremacy by explaining that the imposition of one culture over others inhibits the evolution of society and can lead to destruction. The passage demonstrates that she also criticizes the anti-immigration policies of the period, as policies of exclusion cannot sustain a country.

“The fact is this nation was foreordained to conflict from its incipiency. Its elements were predestined from their birth to an irrepressible clash followed by the stable equilibrium of opposition. Exclusive possession belongs to none. There never was a point in its history when it did. There was never a time since America became a nation when there were not more than one race, more than one party, more than one belief contending for supremacy. Hence no one is or can be supreme. All interests must be consulted, all claims conciliated.”

Cooper’s argument demonstrates that white supremacy and whiteness’s connection to the American identity is a fallacy because America was multicultural from its birth. The clash of cultures is inherent in the country, and the only solution to the conflict is balance. Social progress can only be achieved through the political participation of all racial groups and the values of reciprocity and sharing.

“We would not deprecate the fact, then, that America has a Race Problem. It is guaranty of the perpetuity and progress of her institutions, and insures the breadth of her culture and the symmetry of her development. More than all, let us not disparage the factor which the Negro is appointed to contribute to that problem. America needs the Negro for ballast if for nothing else. His tropical warmth and spontaneous emotionalism may form no unseemly counterpart to the cold and calculating Anglo-Saxon.”

Cooper emphasizes that America’s racial problems can only be resolved with the agency of African Americans. She distinguishes the African American worldview from the white American perspective and insists on the positive impact of racial conflict. The clash of different cultures and worldviews can ultimately lead to the formation of a society based on equality and multiculturalism.

“[M]ost of the writers who have hitherto attempted a portrayal of life and customs among the darker race have belonged to our class II: they have all, more or less, had a point to prove or a mission to accomplish, and thus their art has been almost uniformly perverted to serve their ends; and, to add to their disadvantage, most, if not all the writers on this line have been but partially acquainted with the life they wished to delineate and through sheer ignorance ofttimes, as well as from design occasionally, have not been able to put themselves in the darker man’s place. The art of ‘thinking one’s self imaginatively into the experiences of others’ is not given to all, and it is impossible to acquire it without a background and a substratum of sympathetic knowledge. Without this power our portraits are but death’s heads or caricatures and no amount of cudgeling can put into them the movement and reality of life. […] They forget that underneath the black man’s form and behaviour there is the great bed-rock of humanity, the key to which is the same that unlocks every tribe and kindred of the nations of earth.”

Cooper raises the issue of cultural representation and examines the portrayal of African Americans in literature. She notes that most white writers perpetuated stereotypes about Black people and their lives that lacked authenticity and ultimately continued their dehumanization. Most white writers approached African Americans from their own perspective and projected their own ideologies onto the depiction of Black people. The domination of one cultural perspective remains problematic.

“There is one thing I would like to say to my white fellow countrymen, and especially to those who dabble in ink and affect to discuss the Negro; and yet I hesitate because I feel it is a fact which persons of the finer sensibilities and more delicate perceptions must know instinctively: namely, that it is an insult to humanity and a sin against God to publish any such sweeping generalizations of a race on such meager and superficial information. We meet it at every turn—this obtrusive and offensive vulgarity, this gratuitous sizing up of the Negro and conclusively writing down his equation, sometimes even among his ardent friends and bravest defenders.”

Cooper addresses white men and criticizes their approach to racial discourse as one that lacks compassion and knowledge. For Cooper, the stereotyping of a whole race impedes any possibility of progress in race relations. White people remained deliberately ignorant of Black lives, as Cooper stresses that even supporters of Black people’s cause during Reconstruction continued to reproduce racial stereotypes.

“But the black man is in real life only too glad to accept the olive branch of reconciliation. He merely asks to be let alone. To be allowed to pursue his destiny as a free man and an American citizen, to rear and educate his children in peace, to engage in art, science, trades or industries according to his ability,—and to go to the wall if he fail. He is willing, if I understand him, to let bygones be bygones.”

The passage illustrates the hopes of the African American community after emancipation. Cooper emphasizes the will of Black people to reclaim their humanity and create their lives anew as free citizens. Despite the traumatic and dehumanizing experience of enslavement, they wanted to leave racial oppression and violence in the past. At the time of Cooper’s writing, “reconciliation” and healing remained uncertain, as Black people’s freedom was again under threat.

“Now I believe there are two ideas which master the Southern white man and incense him against the black race. On this point he is a monomaniac. In the face of this feeling he would not admit he was convinced of the axioms of Geometry. The one is personal and present, the fear of Negro political domination. The other is for his posterity—the future horror of being lost as a race in this virile and vigorous black race.”

The passage indicates that racism was connected to power. White people in the South wanted to maintain political power and privilege, and equality was a threat to them. The South continued to pursue the oppression of Black people through new legislations after Reconstruction. Cooper also alludes to the laws that prohibited interracial relationships.

“But after all sentiment, whether adverse or favorable, is ephemeral. Ever shifting and unreliable, it can never be counted in estimating values. The sentiments of youth are outgrown in age, and we like to-day what we despised or were indifferent to yesterday. Nine-tenths of the mis-called color prejudice or race prejudice in this country is mere sentiment governed by the association of ideas. It is not color prejudice at all. The color of a man’s face per se has no more to do with his worthiness and companionableness than the color of his eyes or the shades of his hair. You admire the one or think the other more beautiful to rest the gaze upon. But everyone with brains knows and must admit that he must look deeper than this for the man.”

Cooper’s arguments in the passage illustrate racism as a social construct. Racial prejudice is hinged on a set of ideas that are not essentially connected to skin color. Cooper emphasizes the principle of the civil rights quest, that people should be valued through the quality of their character. Skin color is only another human characteristic that does not define the worth of a human being.

“It is a heavy investment, requires a large outlay of money on long time and large risk, no end of labor, skill, pains. Education is the word that covers it all—the working up of this raw material and fitting it into the world’s work to supply the world’s need—the manufacture of men and women for the markets of the world. But there is no other labor which so creates value. The value of the well developed man has been enhanced far more by the labor, bestowed than is the iron in the watch springs.”

Throughout the book, Cooper stresses that American society in the late 19th century was entering a period of capitalist development that endorsed materialistic values. Responding to the context of her time, she continues to emphasize her cause for the significance of education to reinforce her arguments. She stresses that education is the greatest “investment” for a society, as it helps people develop character and skills and makes people useful citizens and professionals.

“This looks like an attempt, to say the least, to do the best we can with our material. One feels there has not been much shirking here; the workmanship may be crude sometimes, when measured by more finished standards,—but they have done what they could; in their poverty and inexperience, through self denial and perseverance, they are struggling upward toward the light.

Cooper emphasizes Black people’s determination and endurance after a long history of oppression. Even with a lack of means and resources and still struggling against racism after reconstruction, African Americans were resolved to pursue their freedom and advance as a community. Cooper asserts their will to continue fighting for justice and equality.

“The nation judges us as workingmen, and poor indeed is that man or race of men who are compelled to toil all the weary years ministering to no higher want than that of bread. To feed is not the chief function of this material that has fallen to our care to be developed and perfected. It is an enormous waste of values to harness the whole man in the narrow furrow, plowing for bread. There are other hungerings in man besides the eternal all-subduing hungering of his despotic stomach. There is the hunger of the eye for beauty, the hunger of the ear for concords, the hungering of the mind for development and growth, of the soul for communion and love, for a higher, richer, fuller living—a more abundant life!”

The passage demonstrates Cooper’s advocacy for the professional opportunities of Black people. She is critical of the society of her time, as continued racial discrimination ensured African American’s status as only laborers. Cooper stresses the necessity to broaden Black people’s professions, as their daily struggle for survival inhibits the possibilities for creativity or cultural production. She supports both intellectual and technical training so that Black people can develop their individual skills.

“For me it is enough to know that by this system God and Love are shut out; prayer becomes a mummery; the human will but fixed evolutions of law; the precepts and sanctions of morality a lie; the sense of responsibility a disease. The desire for reformation and for propagating conviction is thus a fire consuming its tender. Agnosticism has nothing to impart. Its sermons are the exhortations of one who convinces you he stands on nothing and urges you to stand there too. If your creed is that nothing is sure, there is certainly no spur to proselytize. As in an icicle the agnostic abides alone. The vital principle is taken out of all endeavor for improving himself or bettering his fellows. All hope in the grand possibilities of life are blasted. The inspiration of beginning now a growth which is to mature in endless development through eternity is removed from our efforts at self-culture.”

Cooper counters dominant schools of Western thought at the time, like agnosticism and positivism, to emphasize Christian faith and spirituality as key traits of the African American worldview. For Cooper, faith is key, as it reinforces self-development and progress. Faith helps people aspire to higher values and believe in the best version of humanity. Ultimately, faith stands against materialism and objectification of people.