Brief Biography

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper, educator, author, activist, visionary and black feminist, was one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree.  Her life spanned over a century, from 1858 – 1964, through 22 US presidencies and during some of the most significant years in American history.  Born just before the Civil War as the daughter of a slave mother and wealthy slave-master father in Raleigh, NC, Anna discovered the wonders of learning as a young child.  She unknowingly answered the call to teach early in life, serving as a teaching assistant at the tender age of eight. 

Despite the educational challenges facing women, Anna went on to graduate from St. Augustine Normal School in Raleigh, NC, earn both a B.A. degree and M.A. degree in Mathematics from Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH, and, at age 65, she received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Paris at the Sorbonne.  She taught at the M Street High School (later named Dunbar High School) in Washington, DC from 1887 to 1930, and served as Principal from 1902 to 1906.  Upon retirement from Dunbar in 1930, Dr. Cooper became the president of Frelinghuysen University, a precursor to a community college, in the District of Columbia.

Dr. Cooper knew the only way the black race could remove the shackles of the enslaved mindset was through education. To provide the best education possible to her people, she committed her life teaching, the noblest of all professions.