So I am very behind, as I post on the last day of January. I am trying some new things with my art, so as i explore more about image and storytelling, watch me work. The theme for 2024 is Intersectionality as we explore what it is like being African American and Female. Meeting at the intersection of Race and Gender.

For January we look at the life of Anna Julia Cooper. She lived within the lines of her society, but still had the desire to expand them.

She was born in 1858, into slavery in Raliegh North Carolina. She started life working as a domestic servant, but soon gained a world class eduation. She attended St Augustine’s School in Raliegh, where she would meet her husband, George A. C. Cooper. He would die within two years. As unfortunate as it was, his death allowed her to continue to teach.

TEACH

She attended Oberlin College with classmate Mary Church Terrell. In 1924, she was one of the first women to earn a Ph.D. When she could not find a university in the United sTates that would allow her this type of eduication, she attended Sorbonne, University of Paris. She spent many years of her life teaching.

WRITE

She also wrote her first book, A Voice from the South, which gave a realistis educated view of what life was like for African Americans during her lifetime.

SPEAK

In 1900 Cooper participated in the First Pan African Conference in London.

FORM

With Helen Appo Cook, Ida B Wells, Charlotte Forten Grimke, Mary Jane Peterson, Mary Church Terrell and Evelyn Shaw formed the Colored Women’s League in Washington, DC.

Anna Julia Cooper was a woman who didn’t not let life roll on by. She participated in things most women like her did not have access to. She helped change the way people though about situations. She leaves us all better for it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_J._Cooper