Julia Cooper

Julia Cooper

Introduction:

On the 10^th of august, 1858, Julia Cooper was born, with a birth name “Anna Julia Haywood” and being born to a slave mother; she inherited slavery (Gable, 1982). As far as her formal educational career is concerned, she attended St. Augustine’s Normal School (North Carolina) when she was ten years old (1868).  Her basic schooling concluded in 1877. She tied the knot with George Cooper, who studied Theology at the same institute (Gable, 1982). However, their marriage could not last long as George died in 1879 and after that, Julia never got married to anyone else in her life. It is believed that had George lived, Julia might not have achieved the fame and successful career because it was generally forbidden for married women to pursue a career in teaching at that time (Baker-Fletcher, 1994; Gordon, 1990).

After spending fourteen years at St. Augustine’s as a student, Julia was inducted as an instructor in the same institute. She started her pursuit for a college degree, and in 1881, she moved to Ohio and joined Oberlin college (Hutchinson, 1981). She graduated from Oberlin college in 1884 with a bachelor’s degree in Arts. After getting a bachelor’s degree, Julia was appointed as a teacher at Wilberforce University, however, after a year of service there, she switched back to Oberlin College as an instructor, and she also got her graduate degree in arts from the same institute in 1887.

Julia was given the position of a  teacher in Washington colored High School in 1887. Later, in 1901, she took charge of M street school as its principal and served the same position till 1906. (Hutchinson, 1981). She completed her doctorate from The University of Paris (Sorbonne) in 1925. During her pursuance of a doctoral degree, she has to take care of five grandchildren of her step-brother. Julia had also acted as a foster parent to two children named John and Lula (Gable, 1982). She also taught at Dunbar High school till 1930. She also held the position of president at Frelinghuysen University from 1931 to 1945. She died in 1964 aging 105 and is buried alongside her husband in Raleigh (North Carolina).

Notable works:

Julia wrote some famous books and journals, and one of them is “A Voice from the South” which was printed in 1892. In her book, she discussed the rights of black women, and she believed that black women were denied their basic rights because of racial discrimination. In the first part of the book, she emphasized the eminence of education for Afro-American women as she believed that women are a vital component of progress and generation of a race and they should be dealt with accordingly. She made a criticism of the Episcopal Church for exhibiting negligence when it came to educating black Afro-American women. She strongly believed that education for black women is the only way for black people to prosper. (Cooper, 2017)

In the second part of her book, she evaluated a number of authors (e.g. Washington Cable, Dean Howells, Beecher Stowe, etc.) and their work to represent Afro-Americans. She reached the conclusion that even these authors could not depict the completely true representation, and it is still to be done, and someone must take this challenge. (Cooper, 2017)

In her other book, “Slavery and the French and Haitian Revolutionists” which was also her dissertation for her doctoral degree, She discussed the relation between the riches of French colonies and revolutionaries. She believed that the few of the main reasons for the uprising were slavery, racism, and social injustice & inequality. She said that people in France were deprived of basic human rights and this lead to a sense of revolt against the rulers. Her book provides a unique and strong perspective on different events that occurred during Haitian and French revolutions.

The Era of racism, discrimination and social injustice:

As mentioned earlier, Julia was born to a slave mother, Hannah Haywood. Her mother was a slave of a wealthy owner and Hannah had two sons from her owner. Later, Hannah was sold to the brother (an attorney in Raleigh)  of her owner. It is believed that the attorney was the father of Julia Cooper  (Gable, 1982; Hutchinson, 1981). Hannah suffered domestic and sexual mistreatment, and Julia witnessed all this during her childhood (Stevenson, 1997). Julia had suffered the hardships of slavery and racial discrimination, and this had a lifelong effect on her future life.

As she moved forward in her life, she started to raise voice for Afro-American women who were facing the same racial discrimination, sexual abuse, slavery, education deprivation, and similar issues. However, white men and society wanted to keep the status quo. She urged black women to raise voice for their rights and ensure their participation in church activities. Researches show that Julia is considered as the first advocate of black feminist theory (Hutchinson 1981; Baker-Fletcher, 1994 ).  She raised voice against slavery, social injustice, racial discrimination, and the rights of black women on various platforms. She delivered the inaugural speech of American Negro Academy as she was the only elected black woman in the group (Banks, 1996). In another speech, in which she addressed the American conference of educators, she made criticism of educated black men for their attitude towards the development of black women. Julia dedicated her life to the betterment of Afro-American women and worked with some other highly educated black women and raised voice against the social norms such as racism, gender inequality, and education deprivation for black females. Her famous book, “A Voice from the South” was a true depiction of her efforts towards this cause. She mentioned She suffered the agony of slavery, mistreatment, and inequality in her childhood, and she was well aware of what it is like. Therefore, she devoted her life to the rights of women of her race.

References:

• Giles, M. S. (2006). Special Focus: Dr. Anna Julia Cooper, 1858-1964: Teacher, Scholar, and Timeless Womanist. The Journal of Negro Education, 621-634.
• Gabel, L. C. (1982). From slavery to the Sorbonne and beyond: The life and writings of Anna J. Cooper. Northampton: Department of History of Smith College.
• Baker-Fletcher, K. (1994). A singing something: Womanist reflections on Anna Julia Cooper. Crossroad.
• Gordon, L. D. (1990). Gender and higher education in the progressive era. Yale University Press, 92A Yale Station, New Haven, CT 06520-9040.
• Hutchinson, L. D. (1981). Anna J. Cooper, a voice from the South. Smithsonian Inst Press.
• Stevenson, B. E. (1997). Life in Black and White: family and community in the slave south. Oxford University Press.
• Banks, W. M. (1996). Black intellectuals: Race and responsibility in American life. WW Norton & Company.
• Cooper, A.J. (2017). A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. muse.jhu.edu/book/52339.