The Portable Anna Julia Cooper

Edited by Shirley Moody-Turner; General Editor: Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

A collection of essential writings from the iconic foremother of Black women's intellectual history, feminism, and activism, who helped pave the way for modern social justice movements like Black Lives Matter and Say Her NameA Penguin ClassicThe Portable Anna Julia Cooper brings together, for the first time, Anna Julia Cooper's major collection of essays, A Voice from the South, along with several previously unpublished poems, plays, journalism and selected correspondences, including over thirty previously unpublished letters between Anna Julia Cooper and W. E. B. Du Bois. The Portable Anna Julia Cooper will introduce a new generation of readers to an educator, public intellectual, and community activist whose prescient insights and eloquent prose underlie some of the most important developments in modern American intellectual thought and African American social and political activism.Recognized as the iconic foremother of Black women's intellectual history and activism, Cooper (1858-1964) penned one of the most forceful and enduring statements of Black feminist thought to come of out of the nineteenth century. Attention to her work has grown exponentially over the years-her words have been memorialized in the US passport and, in 2009, she was commemorated with a US postal stamp. Cooper's writings on the centrality of Black girls and women to our larger national discourse has proved especially prescient in this moment of Black Lives Matter, Say Her Name, and the recent protests that have shaken the nation.

NEW TITLE IN AFRICAN AMERICAN CLASSICS SERIES WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.: This title is a new addition to the curated list of African American classics selected by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. which includes The Portable Frederick Douglass, Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, and The Light of Truth by Ida B. Wells."THE MOTHER OF BLACK FEMINISM": Cooper was known for her essays that promoted intersectionality and the education and social uplift for African American women, and paved the way for modern-day movements like Black Lives Matter and Say Her Name.DISTINCT FOCUS ON BLACK WOMEN IN PUBLISHING: This volume introduces audiences to A Voice from the South, Cooper's foundational Black feminist text, set alongside a new cache of writings from the archives-writings that often took place beyond the bounds of conventional publishing outlets and provide insights into the range and diversity of Black women's intellectual thought and contributions.REVEALING LETTERS WITH W. E. B. DU BOIS PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME: The book publishes together for the first time,the correspondences between Anna Julia Cooper and W. E. B. Du Bois from 1923-1932, documenting the long relationship between these two intellectual giants and providing insights into the gender dynamics of Black publishing and leadership as revealed through their exchanges.ONE OF THE FIRST TO CHALLENGE JIM CROW EDUCATION: As a courageous and forward-thinking educator, who mounted one of the first challenges to Jim Crow education in our nation's capital and whose philosophies on teaching continue to influence educational policies to this day, this volume offers readers a rare glimpse into the theories, programs, and policies that Cooper identified as foundational to a truly transformative educational practice.