By: Rev. Kenya A. Thompson

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper was an activist, educator and author. Born in 1858 to Hannah Stanley Haywood, who was a slave, Anna never knew the identity of her father. Cooper began her impressive academic career at the age of nine at St. Augustine’s Normal and Collegiate Institute. She faced one of her first education-related prejudices here: she initially was not allowed to take a course in Greek because it was only open to male students. Cooper protested and eventually became the first woman allowed to take Greek. It is with this passion, energy and commitment that she would go on to stand up to exclusionary practices based on race and gender, throughout her entire life.

Anna Julia Cooper valued education for all students, regardless of race or gender. While she supported vocational education programs, she strongly believed that all students deserved the opportunity to receive a “solid” college education. As the principal of the prestigious Dunbar School, a Washington D.C. preparatory school for black students, Cooper actively sought college placement and scholarships for her students with much success. When she refused to drop her ‘non-vocational’ approach, she was forced to resign as principal. Cooper spent subsequent decades as a teacher at the school, furthering her own education at Columbia University and her work as an author.

As an author, she is widely known for her authorship of A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South. This work stands out as ‘one of the most forceful enduring statements of Black Feminist thought to come out of the 19th century,’ and concentrates on her philosophy that educating Black women would result in uplifting the entire race. She was a trailblazer in the Black feminist thought movement.

Her work as a political and community activist, educator and author who stood against injustice on behalf of others is inspirational. Her life, one rooted in faith, exemplifies what Emmaus House stands for: justice and equity. As we celebrate Women’s history month, let us remember Anna Julia Haywood Cooper, and all women like her, who worked to ensure just treatment and equity in education for all people regardless of race, gender or economic status. She was committed to improving the quality of life for African American Women in particular and sought justice on behalf of all people. She broke barriers to opportunity that challenged African American women through her life’s endeavors.

Source: Leadership Gallery: The Church Awakens-African Americans and the Struggle for Justice.

The Long Road to Equitable Education