Anna J. Cooper

Anna J. Cooper was an American educator, author and scholar, and one of the most prominent African American intellectuals of her era. Born into slavery in Raleigh, North Carolina, she became principal of the M Street School (later Dunbar High School) in Washington, D.C., a leading academic high school for Black students, where she championed a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum against pressure to limit Black students to vocational training. In 1892 she published A Voice from the South, a foundational work of Black feminist thought arguing for the education and advancement of Black women as essential to the progress of the whole race. In 1925, at age 65, she earned a doctorate from the University of Paris, Sorbonne, becoming the fourth African American woman known to earn a doctoral degree. She later served as president of Frelinghuysen University, an institution providing higher education to working Black adults in Washington, D.C. Cooper is often called a pioneer of Black feminism and is honored on the United States passport for her words on progress and civilization.