An Educational Controversy: Anna Julia Cooper's Vision of Resolution

Out of deep educational disagreements that tore black communities asunder in the nineteenth century, an African American woman offered solutions. Anna Julia Cooper pioneered one of the most significant innovations ever introduced in any society. She envisioned and brought into being a system we know...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:NWSA journal 1999-10, Vol.11 (3), p.49-67
Main Author: Keller, Frances Richardson
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African American education
African Americans
Black American people
Black communities
Black culture
Blacks
College students
Community colleges
Cooper, Anna Julia
Culture
Education
Educators
Equal opportunities
High schools
Higher education
History
Interest groups
Liberal arts education
Lobbying
Lobbyists
Minority & ethnic groups
Personal profiles
Pioneers
Politics
Slavery
Vocational education
Women
Womens education
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Out of deep educational disagreements that tore black communities asunder in the nineteenth century, an African American woman offered solutions. Anna Julia Cooper pioneered one of the most significant innovations ever introduced in any society. She envisioned and brought into being a system we know as community college. She championed and modeled the idea that higher education is a lifelong experience, that it can be available for everyone, and that everyone can work as she or he learns. Distressed by the "old, subjective, stagnant, indolent and wretched life" of far too many women, Anna Cooper demonstrated that women, as well as men, can escape ignorance and poverty. In her community she discovered, built, and nurtured a working-adult college; she believed that students need no longer feel thwarted in their life possibilities, that they could learn as they worked. As Booker Washington spoke for industrial education, W.E.B. Du Bois for elite opportunity, and Charles Chesnutt for the vote to achieve both, Anna Cooper offered higher education, vocational education, and lifelong education-and women's inclusion in them all-as the road to equal opportunity.
ISSN:1040-0656
1527-1889
DOI:10.2979/NWS.1999.11.3.49