Anna J. Cooper

Life & Legacy

Anna Julia Cooper (née Haywood; August 10, 1858 – February 27, 1964) was an African American author, educator, and activist. Although born enslaved, Cooper pursued higher education at Oberlin College in Ohio, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1884 and a master's degree in mathematics in 1887. At the age of sixty-six, she completed her doctoral studies at the University of Paris, making her the fourth African American woman to earn a PhD. She was a well-known member of Washington, D.C.'s African-American community, and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
Cooper's scholarly contributions to sociology started with her first book, A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South, which is widely acknowledged as one of the first articulations of Black feminism and gave her the often-used title of "the Mother of Black Feminism".