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

Content Warning: This section discusses issues of racism and sexism.

Anna J. Cooper was born in 1858 in Raleigh, North Carolina, during the period African Americans' enslavement. As a child, Cooper developed a love of learning and aspired to be a teacher. Following the abolition of slavery in 1865 and African American emancipation, she received a scholarship to attend the newly established Saint Augustine's Normal School and Collegiate Institute, which was founded for the education of Black people. During her years in the school, Cooper excelled as a student in liberal arts, as well as in math and science. She began teaching math part-time at the age of 10. At the time, the school reinforced a more rigorous education program for young men, while women were discouraged from pursuing high-level education. Realizing gender disparities, Cooper began to develop a feminist consciousness. She argued for her right to attend courses reserved for male students and was ultimately accepted on the basis of her academic skills.

Cooper married George Cooper, one of her classmates at school, in 1877. He died two years later. Following her husband’s death, Cooper continued her education and enrolled in Oberlin College in Ohio. Among her classmates were Mary Church Terrell and Ida Gibbs, both important activists in the women’s movement. She pursued studies designated for male students and graduated with a degree in mathematics in 1884, becoming one of the first Black female graduates of the school. Cooper returned to Saint Augustine’s School as an instructor until 1887, when she taught math and science at the Preparatory High School for Colored Youth, one of the most prestigious public high schools for African Americans. In 1888, she and Terrell obtained a master's degree from Oberlin, becoming the first Black women to earn the degree. Cooper began to advocate for Black women’s access to education and published an essay titled “Higher Education of Women” in 1890.

Cooper published her first book, A Voice From the South, by a Black Woman of the South, in 1892, and it’s widely viewed as the first book of black feminism in the United States. Cooper started public speaking, advocating for social change, civil rights, and gender equality. The same year, she moved to Washington, DC, allying with other Black women like Terrell, Ida B. Wells, and Charlotte Forten Grimké to create several associations and clubs to promote the rights of the African American community. They formed the Colored Women’s League, a women’s club to organize the unity of Black women in the nation. In 1896, the club merged with the National Association of Colored Women. Cooper helped in the formation of local organizations for youth, women, and poor people, addressing issues like housing, unemployment, and access to education. Cooper spoke at the World’s Congress of Representative Women in Chicago in 1893 and at the first Pan-African Conference in London in 1900.

Cooper continued her career in education and became principal of the M Street High School. She worked to improve the curriculum and prepare the students for admission to prestigious universities and colleges. She continued to pursue further studies and enrolled at Columbia University as a doctoral student in 1914 while working as a teacher. In 1924, she transferred to the Sorbonne University in Paris, France, completing her doctoral dissertation a year later, which explored France’s stance toward slavery in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Cooper was the fourth African American to obtain a PhD.

In 1930, Cooper retired from teaching at Dunbar High School but continued her activism. She became a president of Frelinghuysen University, focusing on access to education among working-class African Americans. She remained in Frelinghuysen for 20 years as president and then a registrar. She retired from the university 10 years before her death. Cooper died in Washington, DC, at the age of 105. She remains a significant African American thinker of the late 19th century and a representative of early Black feminism who gave voice to demands for social justice and equality.