The Voice of Anna Julia Cooper

Including a Voice from the South and Other Important Essays, Papers, and Letters

Anna J. Cooper

Recently Anna Julia Cooper has emerged as the most important classic writer in the tradition of African American feminist thought. Mary Helen Washington described Cooper's work as "the most precise, forceful, well-argued statement of black feminist thought to come out of the nineteenth century." This is the first collection of all of Cooper's major writings, including many never before published. It includes all of the essays from her famous book, A Voice from the South, in addition to many other essays and letters accessible only in archives until now. The organization of this important new collection lends itself to a clearer understanding of the major themes and contributions of Cooper's thought, her development as a thinker and writer, and the critiques and controversies surrounding her work. Lemert and Bhan introduce Cooper as an activist, settlement founder, school teacher, college president, linguist, and scholar—a life that paralleled the prodigious accomplishments of W.E.B. Du Bois in so many ways.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 1 •

978-0-585-12045-4 • eBook • January 2000 • $42.50 • (£35.00)

Subjects: History / United States / General

The Voice of Anna Julia Cooper

Including a Voice from the South and Other Important Essays, Papers, and Letters

eBook

Summary

Recently Anna Julia Cooper has emerged as the most important classic writer in the tradition of African American feminist thought. Mary Helen Washington described Cooper's work as "the most precise, forceful, well-argued statement of black feminist thought to come out of the nineteenth century." This is the first collection of all of Cooper's major writings, including many never before published. It includes all of the essays from her famous book, A Voice from the South, in addition to many other essays and letters accessible only in archives until now. The organization of this important new collection lends itself to a clearer understanding of the major themes and contributions of Cooper's thought, her development as a thinker and writer, and the critiques and controversies surrounding her work. Lemert and Bhan introduce Cooper as an activist, settlement founder, school teacher, college president, linguist, and scholar—a life that paralleled the prodigious accomplishments of W.E.B. Du Bois in so many ways.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 1 •

978-0-585-12045-4 • eBook • January 2000 • $42.50 • (£35.00)

Subjects: History / United States / General

Author

Charles Lemert, professor of sociology at Wesleyan University, is the author of many books, including most recently Social Things: An Introduction to the Sociological Life (Rowman & Littlefield, 1997). He lives in Middletown, Connecticut. Esme Bhan has been director of the African-American Indexing Project at the Smithsonian Institution and is former principal curator at the Moorland-Springarn Research Center at Howard University. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Anna Julia Cooper: The Colored Woman's Office Part 2 I. The Colored Woman’s Office: A Voice from the South Chapter 3 Our Raison d'Etre (1892) Chapter 4 Womanhood: A Vital Element in the Regeneration and Progress of a Race (1886) Chapter 5 The Higher Education of Women (1890-1891) Chapter 6 "Woman versus the Indian" (1891-1892) Chapter 7 The Status of Woman in America (1892) Part 8 II. Race and Culture: A Voice from the South Chapter 9 Has America a Race Problem? If So, How Can It Best Be Solved? (1892) Chapter 10 The Negro As Presented in American Literature (1892) Chapter 11 What Are We Worth? (1892) Chapter 12 The Gain from a Belief (1892) Part 13 III. The Range of Cooper’s Voice: Feminism, Social Service, Education, and Race Politics Chapter 14 The Intellectual Progress of the Colored Women in the United States since the Emancipation Proclamation: A Response to Fannie Barrier Williams (1893) Chapter 15 The Ethics of the Negro Question (1902) Chapter 16 The Social Settlement: What It Is, and What It Does (1913) Chapter 17 Sketches from a Teacher's Notebook: Loss of Speech through Isolation (1923?) Chapter 18 Foreword to Le Pelerinage de Charlemagne (1925) Chapter 19 The Humor of Teaching (1930) Chapter 20 My Racial Philosophy (1930) Chapter 21 The Negro's Dialect (1930s?) Chapter 22 On Education (1930s?) Angry Saxons and Negro Education (1938) Chapter 23 Hitler and the Negro (1942?) Part 24 IV. World Politics, Race, and Slavery: The Historical Studies Chapter 25 The Social Conditions of the French-American Colonies: The Class Structure (1925) Chapter 26 Black Slavery and the French Nation (1925) Chapter 27 Equality of Races and the Democratic Movement (1925) Chapter 28 Legislative Measures Concerning Slavery in the United States: 1787-1850 (1925) Part 29 V. Reflections on Her Life: Memoirs, Occasional Writings, Letters: 1925-1958 Chapter 30 The Early Years in Washington: Reminiscences of Life with the Grimkes (1951) Chapter 31 The Third Step: Cooper's Memoir of the Sorbonne Doctorate (1945-1950?) Chapter 32 Selected Letters and Other Writings (1925-1958) Chapter 33 The Life of Anna Julia Cooper: A Chronology Chapter 34 Index