Anna Julia Cooper

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper, 1858 – 1964

Anna Julia Cooper, 2021, Acrylic on Canvas, 16 x 20 in.

Anna Cooper was an American author, educator, sociologist, speaker, Black liberation activist, and one of the most prominent African-American scholars in United States history.

Born into slavery in 1858, Cooper went on to receive a world-class education and claim power and prestige in academic and social circles. In 1924, she received her PhD in history from the Sorbonne, University of Paris. Cooper became the fourth African-American woman to earn a doctoral degree.

Cooper made contributions to social science fields, particularly in sociology. Her first book, A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South, is widely acknowledged as one of the first articulations of Black feminism.

Links for more information

Black History News, Columbia College

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy