Dr. Anna Julia Cooper’s Unbelievable Journey: Born a Slave; High School Graduate; University Graduate; High School Principal; Earned a Phd; And a Mother! WOW!
I hope you will share these short articles; perhaps a few people will be interested in learning more.
Disclaimer: Good Day, Readers. WealthBuildingPowers blog is a financial literacy/competency blog and does not provide specific investment recommendations.
Dr. Anna Julia Cooper (1858–1964)
It took all 105 years to achieve her accomplishments and remarkable life!
Born Into Slavery
In 1858, Anna was born into slavery in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her mother, Hannah Stanley Haywood, was enslaved. Her father was almost certainly her mother’s enslaver—George Washington Haywood, a prominent white man. By law, she was property having no rights, no voice, and no future. Her name was Anna Julia Haywood.
Anna Had Seemingly Impossible Plans. Freedom, Fought For and Claimed
When the Civil War ended and emancipation came, Anna was about seven years old. Suddenly, impossibly, she was free. And the first thing she wanted was an education.
In 1868, St. Augustine’s Normal School opened in Raleigh to train Black teachers. Anna, at the age of ten, enrolled immediately. She was brilliant, determined—and frustrated. The school offered advanced courses, but only to boys. Girls were expected to learn just enough to teach the basics or support a husband. Anna refused to accept that limitation. She demanded access to the advanced curriculum. The school resisted. She persisted. Eventually, they relented—and she outperformed every male student.
A Scholar Who Refused to Be Stopped
At 23, Anna enrolled at Oberlin College in Ohio—one of the few institutions in America that admitted both women and Black students. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1884, then returned for a master’s in 1887.
A Black woman with two degrees in mathematics in the 1880s was a historic figure. But Anna was just getting started.
She moved to Washington, D.C., and began teaching at M Street High School (later Dunbar High). By 1902, she became its principal—the first Black woman to lead the school. She transformed it into the nation’s premier academic high school for Black students, demanding excellence and offering a classical education that rivaled elite white institutions. She insisted her students study Latin, Greek, advanced mathematics, and classical literature. She prepared them for college when most of America assumed Black students were incapable of higher education.
Her students proved America wrong and went to Harvard, Yale, Oberlin, and other top universities. They became doctors, lawyers, professors, and leaders.
But not everyone celebrated her success. In 1906, school board officials—angered by her insistence on academic rigor for Black students—forced her out under false pretenses. She didn’t stop. She kept teaching. She kept writing. She kept fighting.
A Voice from the South—and for the World
In 1892, Anna published A Voice from the South, one of the first books by a Black woman to analyze race and gender in America. In it, she wrote:
“The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class—it is the cause of humankind.”
That line would one day be printed in every U.S. passport. But in 1892, few were listening.
Doctor Cooper, at 67
In her 60s—when most people consider retirement—Anna set her sights on a Ph.D. She had been studying part-time for years while teaching full-time and raising children she had adopted from her family. But American universities blocked her path. So, she crossed the ocean.
In 1911, she enrolled at the Sorbonne in Paris. She studied French history and culture, commuting between continents while maintaining her teaching duties in D.C. In 1924, at age 66, she defended her dissertation on French attitudes toward slavery during the French Revolution. In 1925, she earned her doctorate.
She became the fourth African American woman to earn a Ph.D. and the only one to do it in a foreign language, while working full-time and raising her children.
Legacy Beyond the Classroom
Anna taught for another 15 years, retiring in her 80s. Then she founded Frelinghuysen University, a night school for working Black adults in D.C., and served as its president until age 84. She lived to be 105.
She died in 1964, one year after Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. She had lived through the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Harlem Renaissance, two World Wars, and the dawn of the modern civil rights era.
She saw some of the change she fought for. Not all of it. But enough to know the fight was not in vain.
She Was The Revolution!
Anna Julia Cooper was born into bondage. She died as one of the most educated women in America.
Her words—etched into every U.S. passport—travel the world, even if most who carry them don’t know her name. We remember her not just as a scholar or educator, but as a revolutionary who lived her resistance one student, one degree, one unshakable belief at a time.
In honor of Dr. Anna Julia Cooper (1858–1964): born enslaved, died free, and never once silenced.
If we want better children, we must become better adults. If we want stronger communities, we must first strengthen ourselves.
TRUST ME – YOU WILL LIKE THE BELOW POPULAR BLOGS!
THE ONE PERSON YOU WANT TO INVITE TO DINNER!
WARREN BUFFETT – TODAY’S ROLE MODEL
WHAT SUBJECTS DO YOU WANT TO READ NEXT? WHAT QUESTIONS CAN I ANSWER? UNTIL NEXT TIME!
LET’S MAKE SOME MONEY!
To Join Wealth Building Powers BLO
PLEASE SIGN UP TO FOLLOW ME BY PROVIDING YOUR EMAIL IN THE WORDPRESS BLOG PAGE SUBSCRIBE BOX!
Thank you to my followers and readers for your likes and comments. All comments, recommendations, and feedback are welcomed and utilized to improve this blog.
ABOUT ME
I am a proud nerd (as my beautiful wife and daughter have told me) investment and finance blogger with an N.C. State, Chemical Engineering, University Rutgers, MBA and Harvard University, Advanced Management education.
I left a corporate career because I desired to make a difference as a speaker and writer. I was blessed to be coached and mentored by strong women and men in my family and professional life. It is my time to serve and give back.
DISCLAIMER
I started my first business at ~13 years of age (a small but brilliantly created plant nursery). I am a successful investor in stocks, options, and real estate and am happy to share my finance and investment lessons. I am NOT a licensed financial advisor. Please do not construe my suggestions on this blog as recommendations for your situation. As an investor, you must establish your risk/loss tolerance. Investment in any asset involves risk, including complete loss.
Please seek your licensed CPA or fiduciary financial advisors for individual financial advice.
I write this weekly blog to make an impact by reaching an audience and demonstrating the need for financial literacy. I will help you get there.
