Anna Julia Cooper was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1858. It is believed she was the daughter of her enslaver, Fabius J. Haywood. Cooper was emancipated when she was nine years old and in 1867 enrolled in Saint Augustine’s Normal and Collegiate Institute in Raleigh with the aid of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
At Saint Augustine’s, Cooper noticed that her male classmates received more rigorous coursework than the female students. She successfully advocated for equal academic opportunities and excelled in her studies. By the age of ten, she was tutoring her peers in mathematics, earning $100 a year for her work.
After completing her studies, Cooper remained at Saint Augustine’s as a teacher. In 1877, at age nineteen, she married one of her classmates, George Cooper, who died two years later.
In 1881, Cooper wrote to the president of Oberlin College requesting admittance with free tuition because she was a widow supporting herself. The college granted her request, and she graduated in 1884 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. She received an honorary master’s degree in mathematics in 1888.
Cooper began teaching mathematics, science, and Latin at the M Street High School in Washington, D.C., in 1887. While living in Washington, she became increasingly involved in social issues related to race and gender, advocating for black students to have access to collegiate education.
In 1892, she published A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South, a collection of essays addressing class, Southern identity, race, and education. The book is considered the first major work of black feminist theory.
Cooper became active in national movements for racial and gender equality. She helped found the Colored Women’s League of Washington, D.C., in 1894 and participated in the First National Conference of Colored Women of America, which led to the formation of the National Federation of Afro-American Women. In 1900, she spoke at the Pan-African Conference in London.
Despite her growing activism, Cooper continued her career in education. She became principal of M Street High School (now Dunbar High School) in 1901 but was dismissed by the District of Columbia School Board in 1905. It appears that the school board wanted her to teach a more limited and vocational curriculum, one that aligned with the beliefs of Booker T. Washington.
Cooper taught at Lincoln University after her dismissal until 1910, when she returned to M Street High School, teaching there until 1930. During this period, she began doctoral studies, first at Columbia University and then at the Sorbonne in Paris. She completed her Ph.D. (in French) in 1925, becoming the fourth black woman in the United States to receive a PhD.
Throughout her life, Cooper cared for two foster children and raised five adopted children. She lived to be 105 years old.