Anna Julia Cooper (1858-1964), born in the South in 1858, was a groundbreaking figure who devoted her life to her Christian faith. She was a highly educated figure who went on to get her PhD in her 60s from the Sorbonne in Paris. Cooper is credited with being the founder of Black feminine thought. Her “critiques of the black man and the white woman served her primary purpose, to give voice to the black woman” (19). Furthermore, Cooper was conscious of the fact that Black women stand for everyone as opposed to white women, black men, and white men. This is because when Black people are thought of, the image that appears is of a Black man, and when the term Lady is thought of, the image is that of a white woman.
Black women however have both identities but they lack the privilege that comes with that identity. From the perspective of a Black woman, she was cognizant of the fact that Black women are in a special position to initiate change because they are above the political fray and have no privileges to lose.
Cooper also understood that those marginalized by a system, understand it best and can be the most objective about it. In essence, she fully understood the intersectionality and social dynamics of being Black while also being a woman. Anna Julia Cooper was also a woman that believed for someone to be a “lady” they should be homemakers and mothers. This is because an average everyday home can work for change on a day-to-day basis, and women, more specifically Black women, are the agents of that change. The nuclear family home was not one that Cooper subscribed too. She was a foster mother and widow who worked while taking care of her well-maintained home. This was Cooper’s definition of a lady. A woman, whether she be Black or White, that taught her children the right way to be humans by caring for them, working, and maintaining the home.