Anna Julia Cooper was an author, educator, activist, and one of the most influential African-American scholars in the history of the United States.
Anna Julia Cooper 1858 - 1964
Civil Rights Activist/Educator
Cooper gave the power of speech to African-Americans from the abolishment of slavery to the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. She was best known for her educational leadership and conviction to challenge the racist belief that African-Americans were naturally inferior. Cooper published her first book, A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South, in 1892, which expressed the need for educational equality for women and declared that educated African-American women were essential to inspire and advance the entire African-American race. Cooper spent her lifetime removing limitations placed on African-American women and refusing to yield to the demands of a predominately white, male society.
From the little you shared here, you make me wish that I knew more about Anna Julia Cooper. She certainly lived through some turbulent times. And if my calculation is correct, to the age of 106. That alone is testament to her strength and tenacity.
