The Voice of Anna Julia Cooper

Thanks to this much-awaited edition with its excellent introduction, Anna Julia Cooper will no longer be merely a citation in the indices of works on women and people of color. As their title aptly announces, Esme Bhan and Charles Lemert have retrieved for us The Voice of Anna Julia Cooper. -- David Levering Lewis, Rutgers University, historian and author of W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919, winner of the Pulitzer Prize f
A much-needed addition to the dearth of primary sources which will illuminate one of history's most important feminist figures. -- Paula Giddings, author of When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America
Cooper may be the founding figure in contemporary writings bringing together race, class, and gender—the foremother of today's influential black feminist writers. This collection is a major contribution to the reconstruction of gender balance in African American history. -- Manning Marable, M. Moran Weston/Black Alumni Council Professor of African-American Studies, Columbia University
Writing over a fifty-year period, Cooper not only participated in the ongoing dialogue over race relations and racial uplift in the United States, but also turned a scholarly lens on the history of the slave trade and the development of the Black Atlantic. She belongs in the company of W.E.B. Du Bois. -- Carla L. Peterson, author of Doers of the Word: African American Women Speakers and Writers in the North (1830-1880)
Historians, literary critics, and general readers alike will appreciate having access to Cooper's viewpoints. -- Kathryn L. Seidel, University of Central Florida * Journal of Southern History *
The Voice of Anna Julia Cooper is, quite simply, a fine collection. Carefully edited, it contributes greatly to the study of the history of this country. -- Cally L. Waite, Teachers College, Columbia University * History of Education Quarterly *
This is an impressive, meticulously researched, and wonderfully written study. It does much to further our understanding of southern women—black and white, conservative and progressive—and their efforts to expand the public role of women in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. -- Christina Greene, University of South Florida * National Women's Studies Association Journal *
This is a good selection of 29 of [Cooper's] writings on varied subjects ranging from her A Voice from the South (1892) to her "Hitler and the Negro" (1942). . . . Theoretical scholars debate how to characterize her; the gracefully written introductions in this valuable volume deftly put the debates in perspective. . . . Highly recommended. -- J. H. Smith, Wake Forest University * CHOICE *
Charles Lemert and Esme Bhan's collection serves a timely purpose. A number of Cooper's less familiar writtings, many previously unpublished or virtually inaccesssible, are also included in this compilation and demonstrate the range of her interests, from race politics to the role of humor in teaching. Lemert and Bhan's introduction provides a comprehensive overview of Cooper's life and interactions with other black intellectuals, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Charlotte Grimke, and Mary Church Terrell. The editors have chosen wisely from a lifetime of work. * Washington History *
The Voice of Anna Julia Cooper will surely be an instructive and engaging read for those interested in African American educational history or feminist philosophy, as well as for those who enjoy reading astute observations on race, gender, and class in society. * Harvard Educational Review *
The writings of this influential African American activist make for powerful reading. * Waterwheel *