#Anna Julia Haywood Cooper

[petervintonjr]

"A nation's greatness is not dependent upon the things it makes and uses. Things without thoughts are mere vulgarities. America can boast her expanse of territory, her gilded domes, her paving stones of silver dollars; but the question of deepest moment in this nation today is its span of the circle of brotherhood, the moral stature of its men and its women, the elevation at which it receives its vision into the firmament of eternal truth."

Born enslaved in 1858 North Carolina to an enslaved mother and her owner, Anna Julia (neé Haywood) Cooper found herself in a post-emancipation world at the age of nine and enrolled St. Augustine's Normal School and Collegiate Institute in Raleigh; originally a teaching school for newly liberated Black citizens. Anna showed an uncanny aptitude for academics, earning money as a tutor and determinedly pursuing subjects normally regarded as off-limits to women.

In 1877 Anna married theology teacher George A.G. Cooper, but sadly the marriage only lasted a few short years --George died in 1879. In 1881 she enrolled at Oberlin College, where she attained her B.A. in mathematics, and eventually her M.A. in education. Afterwards in 1887 she moved to Washington, D.C. and further pursued education, moving in the same orbits as Mary Church Terrell (Lesson #29) and Nannie Helen Burroughs (Lesson #138). In 1892 she was one of the co-founders of the the Colored Women's League of Washington. She eventually became principal of the Washington Colored High School (later the M Street High School, and eventually Dunbar High School), but not without controversy --her unapologetic approach to college preparation was met with disagreement by the all-white Washington, D.C. school board, and she was ultimately forced to resign in 1906. (Boy, it sure is good to know that sort of thing doesn't ever happen anymore...)

She had been pursuing a graduate study at Columbia in 1911, but stepped away from this goal to raise her late brother's five grandchildren. In 1925, at the age of 66, Anna earned her Ph.D in history from the Université de Paris (Sorbonne); the fourth Black woman in the U.S. to receive a doctoral degree. She was also a member of the influential Black women's sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. Among her many publications was 1892's A Voice from the South, an early examination on the crucial intersectionality of race and gender, that also called for equal education for women. Anna also founded the the first YWCA chapter for Black women.

Retiring from teaching in 1930, Anna continued to publish and advocate for Black civil rights causes. She ultimately lived to the amazing age of 105, passing away in 1964.

[brattyfics]

Born into slavery, Anna Julia Cooper (1858-1964) emerged as a notable figure in various roles: author, educator, sociologist, speaker, activist, and black feminist leader. She earned recognition as one of the pioneering African American women to obtain a Ph.D., while also shedding light on the intersecting challenges confronting black women amidst racism and sexism.

[mimi-0007]

𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗔 𝗝𝗨𝗟𝗜𝗔 𝗛𝗔𝗬𝗪𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗖𝗢𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗥 (1858-1964)

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper was a writer, teacher, and activist who championed education for African Americans and women. Born into bôndage in 1858 in Raleigh, North Carolina, she was the daughter of an enslaved woman, Hannah Stanley, and her owner, George Washington Haywood.

In 1867, two years after the end of the Civil Wàr, Anna began her formal education at Saint Augustine’s Normal School and Collegiate Institute, a coeducational facility built for former slàves. There she received the equivalent of a high school education.

Anna Haywood married George A.G. Cooper, a teacher of theology at Saint Augustine’s, in 1877. When her husband died in 1879, Cooper decided to pursue a college degree. She attended Oberlin College in Ohio on a tuition scholarship, earning a BA in 1884 and a Masters in Mathematics in 1887. After graduation Cooper worked at Wilberforce University and Saint Augustine’s before moving to Washington, D.C. to teach at Washington Colored High School. She met another teacher, Mary Church (Terrell), who, along with Cooper, boarded at the home of Alexander Crummell, a prominent clergyman, intellectual, and proponent of African American emigration to Liberia.

Cooper published her first book, A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South, in 1892. In addition to calling for equal education for women, A Voice from the South advanced Cooper’s assertion that educated African American women were necessary for uplifting the entire black race. The book of essays gained national attention, and Cooper began lecturing across the country on topics such as education, civil rights, and the status of black women. In 1902, Cooper began a controversial stint as principal of M Street High School (formerly Washington Colored High). The white Washington, D.C. school board disagreed with her educational approach for black students, which focused on college preparation, and she resigned in 1906.

In addition to working to advance African American educational opportunities, Cooper also established and co-founded several organizations to promote black civil rights causes. She helped found the Colored Women’s League in 1892, and she joined the executive committee of the first Pan-African Conference in 1900. Since the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) did not accept African American members, she created “colored” branches to provide support for young black migrants moving from the South into Washington, D.C.

Cooper resumed graduate study in 1911 at Columbia University in New York City, New York. After the death of her brother in 1915, however, she postponed pursuing her doctorate in order to raise his five grandchildren. She returned to school in 1924 when she enrolled at the University of Paris in France. In 1925, at the age of 67, Cooper became the fourth African American woman to obtain a Doctorate of Philosophy.

In 1930, Cooper retired from teaching to assume the presidency of Frelinghuysen University, a school for black adults. She served as the school’s registrar after it was reorganized into the Frelinghuysen Group of Schools for Colored People. Cooper remained in that position until the school closed in the 1950s.

Anna Julia Cooper dièd in 1964 in Washington, D.C. at the age of 105.

[moneeb0930]

𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗔 𝗝𝗨𝗟𝗜𝗔 𝗛𝗔𝗬𝗪𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗖𝗢𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗥 (1858-1964)

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper was a writer, teacher, and activist who championed education for African Americans and women. Born into bôndage in 1858 in Raleigh, North Carolina, she was the daughter of an enslaved woman, Hannah Stanley, and her owner, George Washington Haywood.

In 1867, two years after the end of the Civil Wàr, Anna began her formal education at Saint Augustine’s Normal School and Collegiate Institute, a coeducational facility built for former slàves. There, she received the equivalent of a high school education.

Anna Haywood married George A.G. Cooper, a teacher of theology at Saint Augustine’s, in 1877. When her husband died in 1879, Cooper decided to pursue a college degree. She attended Oberlin College in Ohio on a tuition scholarship, earning a BA in 1884 and a Masters in mathematics in 1887. After graduation, Cooper worked at Wilberforce University and Saint Augustine’s before moving to Washington, D.C. to teach at Washington Colored High School. She met another teacher, Mary Church (Terrell), who, along with Cooper, boarded at the home of Alexander Crummell, a prominent clergyman, intellectual, and proponent of African American emigration to Liberia.

Cooper published her first book, A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South, in 1892. In addition to calling for equal education for women, A Voice from the South advanced Cooper’s assertion that educated African American women were necessary for uplifting the entire black race. The book of essays gained national attention, and Cooper began lecturing across the country on topics such as education, civil rights, and the status of black women. In 1902, Cooper began a controversial stint as principal of M Street High School (formerly Washington Colored High). The white Washington, D.C. school board disagreed with her educational approach for black students, which focused on college preparation, and she resigned in 1906.

In addition to working to advance African American educational opportunities, Cooper also established and co-founded several organizations to promote black civil rights causes. She helped found the Colored Women’s League in 1892, and she joined the executive committee of the first Pan-African Conference in 1900. Since the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) did not accept African American members, she created “colored” branches to provide support for young black migrants moving from the South into Washington, D.C.

Cooper resumed graduate study in 1911 at Columbia University in New York City, New York. After the death of her brother in 1915, however, she postponed pursuing her doctorate in order to raise his five grandchildren. She returned to school in 1924 when she enrolled at the University of Paris in France. In 1925, at the age of 67, Cooper became the fourth African American woman to obtain a Doctorate of Philosophy.

In 1930, Cooper retired from teaching to assume the presidency of Frelinghuysen University, a school for Black adults. She served as the school’s registrar after it was reorganized into the Frelinghuysen Group of Schools for Colored People. Cooper remained in that position until the school closed in the 1950s.

Anna Julia Cooper dièd in 1964 in Washington, D.C. at the age of 105.

[lboogie1906]

Dr. Anna Julia Haywood Cooper (August 10, 1858 – February 27, 1964) was an author, educator, sociologist, speaker, African American liberation activist, and one of the most prominent African American scholars in US history.

Born into slavery, she went on to receive a world-class education and claim power and prestige in academic and social circles. Upon receiving her Ph.D. in history from the Sorbonne in 1924, she became the fourth African American woman to earn a doctoral degree. She was a prominent member of DC’s African-American community and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

She made contributions to social science fields, particularly in sociology. Her first book, A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South, is acknowledged as one of the first articulations of Black feminism, giving her the often-used title of “the Mother of Black Feminism.” #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphakappaalpha

[venicepearl]

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper (August 10, 1858 – February 27, 1964) was an American author, educator, sociologist, speaker, Black liberation activist, and one of the most prominent African-American scholars in United States history.

Born into slavery in 1858, Cooper went on to receive a world-class education and claim power and prestige in academic and social circles. Upon receiving her PhD in history from the Sorbonne in 1924, Cooper became the fourth African-American woman to earn a doctoral degree. She was also a prominent member of Washington, D.C.'s African-American community and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Cooper made contributions to social science fields, particularly in sociology. Her first book, A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South, is widely acknowledged as one of the first articulations of Black feminism, giving Cooper the often-used title of "the Mother of Black Feminism."

[dr-archeville]

Hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters in Raleigh celebrated Juneteenth this year by pulling down the statues of two Confederate soldiers on the Capitol grounds.

More quietly, just hours before and less than a mile away, a handful of volunteers paid tribute to forgotten monuments: the graves of enslaved and free Black people at the Raleigh City Cemetery, the city’s oldest public burial ground.  Clad in bright yellow vests, the volunteers gathered around Ryan Lerch, a Raleigh parks superintendent, who talked about the Black residents buried there.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the 7.68-acre Raleigh City Cemetery is one of only two public cemeteries in the state.  (The other is in New Bern.)  With one entrance at Hargett and East streets and another on New Bern Avenue, the park is tucked into a residential area in the shadow of downtown.  

The cemetery contains the remains of the city’s earliest settlers and state legislators alongside the stonemasons from Scotland and England who built the State Capitol.  When the Raleigh City Cemeteries Preservation nonprofit was formed in 2006, the acre-and-a-half Black section was intact but badly neglected.  Many of the tombstones had been overturned.  Some were broken.  Others were marred with graffiti.

RCCP partnered with city officials to hire Dean Ruedrich, a restoration specialist who had worked all over the country rebuilding slave cabins and restoring grave markers, to rehabilitate the enslaved section, which was in the worst shape.  When it was filled in 1871, it was closed, and the city created the Mt. Hope Cemetery to house the remains of Black citizens.

Even though 1,000 Black people are buried here, only 60 monuments and grave markers remained when restoration work began.  RCCP member Jane Thurman says some had been vandalized, while others were removed by family members.  When Ruedrich started his restoration he found that some tombstones in the Black section had sunk about an inch underground over time.  Most of the markers lay flat in the grass after breaking off at the base.

Ruedrich, who died last year, started working in the enslaved section in 2015, finishing three years later.  He built new bases for the fallen monuments.  He dug up others and found several more, including footstones that contained only the initials of the deceased.

“One of the best days in my life was standing in that section, seeing those graves upright,” Thurman says.

Many of the thin, time-scarred concrete and marble tombstones are inscribed with names and dates that are barely legible.  Some are nameless.  There are several with only the curving tops visible.  In many ways, these modest, weathered markers are analogous to the physical and psychological condition of the people they stand to represent — gouged, chipped, broken remnants that survived against all odds.

The Black graves in the Raleigh City Cemetery offer a striking contrast to the imposing Confederate monuments that are falling across the national landscape.  The markers are a metaphor for what was — the majestic “big house” of the slaveowners in close proximity to the terrible quarters where the enslaved lived — and what is: the refurbishing and building of white-owned homes next to creaky, resource-neglected Black-owned dwellings.  The global protests that erupted after the killing of George Floyd are about the neglect and desecration of Black bodies, which was already laid bare by the pandemic.

Shelley M. Winters, one of the volunteers who helped clean branches and brambles from the Black graves in Raleigh, echoed that sentiment.

“Where are the statues for the people who built the capitol?” she asks.

It was Winters who came up with the idea to clean the tombstones as a somber and reflective means to honor Juneteenth by paying tribute to those who died wanting freedom.

“It’s not just Black history,” Winters says.  “This is Raleigh history.  It’s American history, and it should be honored as such.  We have no names, no faces for the people who physically built and sustained this city.”

Winters is the niece of John Winters, who, before he died of Parkinson’s disease in 2004, worked as a developer and is largely responsible for Southeast Raleigh becoming a Black enclave.  He served on the city council and later became one of the first Black senators after decades of Black voter suppression since the late 1800s.  The Winters family descendants were born free.  There’s a plaque commemorating them on East Street, a stone’s throw from the cemetery.

Shelley Winters served as chair of Raleigh’s citizens advisory councils and the Atlantic CAC before they were disbanded by the city council in February.  She wanted to do something to honor the Juneteenth holiday and called Grady Bussey, the chair of the city’s annual African American Cultural Festival.

Bussey, Winters says, was unenthusiastic about “celebrating” the fact that some Black captives endured two more years in forced labor camps after President Lincoln proclaimed their freedom.  But then Winters, who is now a member of the city’s planning commission, had the idea of giving dignity to the enslaved population by cleaning their gravesites.  

“It was like a light bulb that hit me,” Winters says.  “Juneteenth is not just a point of freedom, but also to honor those who were enslaved.”

“We figured the best thing to do was paying homage to the slave ancestors,” Bussey adds.

Winters says she first reached out to the residents of Oberlin Village, the formerly all-Black community that cleans the graves in its own community cemetery each year.  When she found out the residents had not planned a cemetery cleaning for Juneteenth, Bussey suggested the City Cemetery.

A little more than a dozen people showed up.  The tombstones of the enslaved, even with faded lettering and dates, told many stories.

Enslaved people in Raleigh died young.  Of the 30 stone markers where birth and death dates are listed or otherwise known, the average age of death was about 29.  That’s taking into account Nancy Kenedy, who died in 1858 at 85, and Jane Dickerson, who passed in 1844 at 90.  It also includes five babies who were one or younger when they died.

Thurman says that Caroline Stronach, who died at 29, was either the wife or sister of Columbus Stronach, a stonemason who was likely enslaved by and an apprentice to William Stronach, who owned a marble yard across from the cemetery, and constructed many of the tombstones at the location.

There are tombstones marking the remains of five people who died in their teens.  Thomas Weems was 16.  So was John Scott.  Martha Buffalo was 17.  John Johnson, 16, died just days after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.  Anne Morgan died at 19, one year after Emancipation.  Little Albert Norwood was two when he died in 1857.

Harriet Bryan was born in 1799.  “Sacred to the Memory of Harriet,” reads her tombstone.  “An Honest and Faithful domestic servant in the family of John H. Bryan.”

Chaney Harris was beloved by her children.  “The stone erected in the memory of our mother, Chaney Harris, who departed this life on June 24, 1832,” reads her marker.  Apparently, the enslaved mother’s children were unsure of when she was born.  She died “at an advanced age,” her tombstone says.

Most prominent among the graves of the enslaved was Cato, who had an obituary printed in the Raleigh Minerva newspaper owned by noted citizen William Boylan, who is also buried in the City Cemetery.

Cato, a printer and bookbinder in Boylan’s downtown shop, was enslaved by Boylan’s uncle.  Cato died in 1811.  RCCP member Betsy Shaw discovered his obituary in the Minerva.

“It is one of the most remarkable pieces of history,” Thurman says.   “He was very well-liked and had a lot of interaction with the public.”

The tombstone of Anna Julia Haywood Cooper sits almost on the invisible line that separates the enslaved from the free.  That’s apt.  Cooper was born a slave in 1858, and after Emancipation she went on to become the first Black American woman to earn a Ph.D. in history from the Sorbonne in Paris.  She was a scholar, author, and early feminist, praised by Frederick Douglass and a peer of W.E.B. Dubois.  For African American feminists, she is best known for asserting in 1892 that “only the BLACK WOMAN can say when and where I enter, in the quiet, undisputed dignity of my womanhood, without violence and without suing or special patronage, then and there the whole Negro race enters with me.”

Thurman says that in this unique moment, these near-forgotten monuments prompt her to reflect on “how we’re collecting history and what we think of it.”  She says she only recently learned about the Tulsa race massacre because it wasn’t in her school history books.

“It’s time to face how we created a narrative and tell more stories,” she says.

Death and time are great equalizers.  The remains of enslaved and slaveholder alike are in the same cemetery.  In a place that holds the remains of the city’s founding fathers and state legislators, Juneteenth was an opportunity to acknowledge those whose names will never be known.

“It was a way to give them the dignity they did not receive in their lifetimes,” Winters says.  “It’s way overdue.”

Follow Durham Reporter Thomasi McDonald on Twitter or send an email to tmcdonald@indyweek.com.

Support independent local journalism. Join the INDY Press Club to help us keep fearless watchdog reporting and essential arts and culture coverage viable in the Triangle.

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[oberlincollegelibraries]

#WCW: Anna Julia Cooper

Above photo: Infographic depicting the information about Anna Julia Cooper written in this post.

Anna Julia Cooper, OC Class of 1884

Cooper was born Anna Julia Haywood in Raleigh, North Carolina. Enslaved at birth, she became a prominent scholar, author, educator, and activist.

Born August 10, 1858; Died February 27, 1964

Cooper was born into slavery in Raleigh, North Carolina

A.B., Oberlin College, 1884; M.A., Oberlin College, 1887; Ph.D., University of Paris, 1924

Taught Latin and served as principal at M Street High School in Washington, D.C. 

Author of A Voice From the South and Slavery and the French Revolutionists (1788-1805)

Served as both president and registrar for Frelinghuysen University

MAJOR MILESTONES

1892- Co-founded the Colored Women’s League of Washington, D.C.

1893- Became the only woman elected to the American Negro Academy

1924- Became the fourth Black woman in America to earn a Doctorate of Philosophy

[oberlincollegearchives]

Early Black Graduates of Oberlin College

The Oberlin Collegiate Institute (later Oberlin College) was founded on groundbreaking values in 1833 when it became the first coeducational institution in the United States. Two years later in 1835, Oberlin cemented its progressive standards when the board of trustees adopted a policy allowing all students to receive an education “irrespective of color.”

George Boyer Vashon (1824-78,), born in Carlisle, PA, was Oberlin College’s first black graduate, receiving the A.B. degree in 1844. After finishing his studies, he returned to Pennsylvania to practice law, but was not allowed to be admitted to the bar because of his skin color. Vashon was admitted to the New York state bar in 1848, becoming New York’s first black lawyer. Vashon also had a notable career in education. He was a language teacher in Haiti, president of Avery College in Pittsburgh, PA, Howard University’s first black professor, and professor of mathematics and ancient and modern languages at Alcorn University.

Mary Jane Patterson (1840-94), was born in Raleigh, NC and later moved to Oberlin, OH with her family. She then attended Oberlin College and became the first black woman to ever receive an A.B. degree in 1862. After leaving Oberlin, Patterson dedicated her life to education. She was the assistant to fellow Oberlin graduate Fanny Jackson Coppin at Philadelphia’s Institute for Colored Youth (now the Cheyney University of Pennsylvania), and then taught at Washington D.C.’s Preparatory High School for Colored Youth (now Dunbar High School). She served as the school’s first black principal, and under her leadership the high school gained enrollment and added a teacher training program. Patterson continued to teach at the high school until her death. She also was very active in other organizations for people of color in D.C., including assisting the elderly, rescue work, and teaching organizations.

Three Trailblazing Oberlin Women

The Oberlin College Class of 1884 produced many talented and remarkable graduates. Included in this class are three black women: Mary Church Terrell, Anna Julia Cooper, and Ida Gibbs Hunt, who made their mark on the world in education, women’s rights, and became lifelong colleagues and friends.

Mary Eliza Church Terrell (1863-1954) was born in Memphis, TN and later moved to Oberlin, OH with her family, where she attended high school and then Oberlin College. After her education at Oberlin, she taught at Wilberforce University, and then studied in Europe for two years, becoming fluent in Italian, French, and German. When Terrell returned to the United States, she shifted her focus from her career in education to social activism. She became the first president of the National Association of Colored Women, fought for black women’s suffrage when the National American Women Suffrage Association was more focused on white women, and stood on picket lines to fight for the integration of businesses and schools. The Oberlin College main library is now named for Terrell, and her illustrious career and achievements can be studied at our digital exhibit.

Ida Alexander Gibbs Hunt (1862-1957) was born in Victoria, British Columbia, and later moved to Oberlin, OH. Hunt began her career after college as a teacher, but had to leave her position after her marriage in 1920, as married women were not seen as appropriate teachers for young people. She shifted her focus to worldwide peace issues and racial and gender equality. Hunt assisted W.E.B. DuBois organize Pan-African Congresses, and served as the primary French translator of the 1919 Paris Pan-African Congress, and co-chaired the 1923 London Pan-African Congress. She also organized the first black chapter of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and served on the board of the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA.

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper (1858-1964) was born into slavery in Raleigh, NC. After completing her studies at Oberlin, Cooper moved to Washington, D.C. and taught Latin at the M Street High School. She left her position there due to her belief that black students should be able to have a classical education, instead of only being offered trade schooling, but later returned. Cooper was a speaker at the World’s Congress of Representative Women in 1893, and spoke at the first Pan-African Congress in 1900. She received a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne in 1924 (at the age of 65), which made her only the fourth black woman to hold a doctorate at that time. Cooper then became president of Frelinghuysen University, a school founded in D.C. to provide black students older than public school age access to schooling.

These are just brief glimpses into the fascinating lives of these Oberlin College alums. For further information on each of them, you can search the African American Registry, or contact us for holdings in the Oberlin College Archives.

[silentambassadors]

Rest in peace, Anna Julia Cooper.  Born into slavery in 1858 in Raleigh, NC, Cooper fought her way through her education, earning an MA from Oberlin in 1887, and becoming the fourth African-American woman to earn a doctorate (from the Sorbonne in 1924).  She continued working to empower young African-American women until her death on this date in 1968 at the age of 105.  If you’re a United States of American and/or you have a United States of American passport, flip to pages 26-27: “The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class--it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity.”  Amen to that.

Stamp details: Issued on: June 11, 2009 From: Washington, DC SC #4408

[eltrainu]

Black History Month - Honoring Oneness - We are all connected

Black History Month – Honoring Oneness – We are all connected

  Today in Black History Month, we Honor Anna Julia Haywood Cooper

Bishop Garfield Thomas Haywood’sFather, Bennett Haywood was born on the slave plantation of Dr Edmund Burke, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Anna Julia Haywood Cooper’s mother slaved on the plantation of Edmund’s brother, George Washington Haywood. Anna Julia Haywood is the daughter of George Washington Haywood and Hannah Stanley…

[blerdsunite]

#annacooper #author #educator #speaker #blackliberationactivist #sociologist #AKA Anna Julia Haywood was born August 10, 1858 in Raleigh, North Carolina. She passed February 27, 1964 in her home Washington, DC. Although she was born into slavery, she went on to receive a world-class education and claim power and prestige in academic and social circles. Her life timeline was very interesting. In 1877 she married George A.C. Cooper, two years later she was a widow at 21. In 1887 she began teaching math and Latin at the Preparatory School. 1891: Participates in the weekly "Saturday Circle" or "Saturday Nighters" salon of Black Washingtonians.1892: Publishes "A Voice From The South By a Black Woman of the South". 1892: Founded the Colored Women's League with Helen Appo Cook.1893: Co-hosts anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells with Frederick Douglass and Lucy Ellen Moten. Anna Cooper was in attendance at the first Pan African Conference in London in 1900. She read a paper she wrote titled "The Negro Problem in America", and joined the executive committee. The following year she became the second black female principal of M St High School. She got her PhD in history from the University of Paris/Sorbonne in 1924, Cooper became the fourth African-American woman to earn a doctoral degree. She then bought a house in Ledroit Park in 1925. In 1929 Becomes second president of Frelinghuysen University in Washington, D.C. I could go on, her life is storied, read upon her... https://www.instagram.com/p/CMC5_w0B2sk/?igshid=1bjtbwj5xenlg

[starqueen87]

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper born on August 10, 1858 in Raleigh, North Carolina, was an author, educator, sociologist, speaker, Black liberation activist, and one of the most prominent Black scholars in United States history.

Born enslaved in 1858, Anna and her mother, Hannah Stanley Haywood, were held in bondage by George Washington Haywood (1802–1890), one of the sons of North Carolina's longest serving state treasurers, John Haywood who helped found the University of North Carolina, but whose estate was later forced to repay missing funds. Her brothers, Andrew and Rufus, were purchased by another slaveowner Fabius J. Haywood.

After the Civil War 1868, when Cooper was nine years old, she received a scholarship and began her education at the newly-opened Saint Augustine's Normal School and Collegiate Institute in Raleigh, North Carolina. Cooper excelled academically wherever she went. It enabled her to work as a tutor for younger children, which also helped her pay for her educational expenses.

Anna Haywood married George A.G. Cooper, a teacher of theology at Saint Augustine’s, in 1877. When her husband died in 1879, Cooper decided to pursue a college degree. She attended Oberlin College in Ohio on a tuition scholarship, earning a BA in 1884 and a Masters in Mathematics in 1887.

Cooper made contributions to social science fields, particularly in sociology. Her first book, A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South, is widely acknowledged as one of the first books on Black feminism and Black pride, giving Cooper the often-used title of "the Mother of Black Feminism.” In addition to calling for equal education for women, A Voice from the South advanced Cooper’s belief that educated Black women were necessary for uplifting all Black people. The book of essays won national attention, and Cooper lectured across the country and Europe on topics such as education, civil rights, and the status of black women.

#AnnaJuliaHaywood #author #educator #speaker #sociologist #blackgirlmagic #blackqueen #NorthCarolinanative #myhomestate #readabouther #youwontbedisappointed

[chuch-ouse-blog]

A BRIEF NOTE ON THE LIVES OF ANNA JULIA COOPER & NANNIE HELEN BURROUGHS: PROFILES OF AFRICAN WOMEN EDUCATORS BY RUNOKO RASHIDI & KAREN A. JOHNSON* DEDICATED TO DR. ADELAIDE SANFORD Among the most outstanding African-American educators of the post-reconstruction era of the late nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century were Dr. Anna Julia Cooper and Ms. Nannie Helen Burroughs. During this extremely difficult and rocky period for African-Americans these dedicated sisters were confronted with the arduous tasks of struggling for racial uplift, economic justice and social equality. Anna Julia Cooper (the eldest of the two women) was born Anna Julia Haywood on August 10, 1858 in Raleigh, North Carolina, the daughter of an enslaved African woman, Hannah Stanley, and her White master. From early on Cooper possessed an unrelenting passion for learning and a sincere conviction that Black women were equipped to follow intellectual pursuits. This thinking ran strongly against the popular opinion of the day. To the contrary, Cooper later said that "not far from kindergarten age" she decided to become a teacher. In Cooper's words, speaking on the lack of the emphasis on formal education for Black girls, "Not the boys less, but the girls more." In 1867 Cooper entered St. Augustine's Normal School and Collegiate Institute in Raleigh. In 1925, at the age of sixty-seven, she earned a Ph.D. from Sorbonne University in Paris, France, becoming only the fourth African-American woman to obtain such a degree. At the tender age of 105, after a lifetime of educating African-American youth, Dr. Cooper died peacefully in her home in Washington, D.C. Although exceptionally brilliant Anna Julie Cooper was not an isolated phenomenon. Nannie Helen Burroughs, another remarkable sister, was born on May 2, 1879 in Orange, Virginia, to John and Jennie Burroughs. Nannie Helen Burroughs, described as a "majestic, dark-skinned woman," was only twenty-one years old when she became a national leader, catapulted to fame after presenting a dynamic speech entitled "How the Sisters are Hindered from Helping" at the annual conference of the National Baptist Convention in Richmond, Virginia in 1900. Nannie Helen Burroughs became a school founder, educator and civil rights activist. She identified African-American teachers such as Anna Julia Cooper as important role models. She attended public schools in Washington, D.C., graduated with honors in 1896, studied business in 1902, and received an honorary M.A. degree from Eckstein-Norton University in Kentucky in 1907. An early pupil and eventual colleague of Cooper, Nannie Helen Burroughs devoted her energies to the uplift of African people. Burroughs was a brilliant and powerful orator. Both in the press and on the lecture circuit she denounced lynchings, racial segregation, employment discrimination and the European colonization of Africa. According to Burroughs biographer Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Burroughs' "verbal attacks were coupled with calls to action. During World War I, criticism of President Woodrow Wilson's silence on lynching led to her being placed under government surveillance. Her uncompromising stand on racial equality included a woman's right to vote and equal economic opportunity." Like Anna Julia Cooper, Nanny Helen Burroughs lived a full and accomplished life, dying on May 20, 1961 at the ripe age of eighty-two.

[lboogie1906]

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper (August 10, 1858 – February 27, 1964) was an author, educator, sociologist, speaker, African American liberation activist, and one of the most prominent African-American scholars in US history. Born into slavery, she went on to receive a world-class education and claim power and prestige in academic and social circles. Upon receiving her Ph.D. in history from the Sorbonne in 1924, she became the fourth African-American woman to earn a doctoral degree. She was a prominent member of DC’s African-American community and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She made contributions to social science fields, particularly in sociology. Her first book, A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South, is acknowledged as one of the first articulations of Black feminism, giving her the often-used title of "the Mother of Black Feminism." #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphakappaalpha https://www.instagram.com/p/ChFCV4_Lzr_fOqA7U0L1_y1Ze6lG4FS_astJ300/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=