February 27

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper

One of America's most prominent African American scholars of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Anna Julia Haywood Cooper died on February 27, 1964 in Washington, DC at the elderly age of 105.

Cooper's rise from humble beginnings in Raleigh, North Carolina as the daughter of a slave mother to becoming the fourth African American woman in America to receive her doctorate demonstrates the character of her personality, intellect, hard work and determination to succeed. In 1924 Cooper received a doctorate in history from the University of Paris-Sorbone. As an educator, orator and author Cooper left her mark on the Washington, DC area and much of America. She started out as a teacher at the M Street School (later Dunbar) which was the only all African American school in Washington, DC, she later became principal of the school.

Her book "A Voice from the South: By A Woman from the South" is perceived by many as a voice for the African American woman.  Cooper was known for her speeches advocating civil rights and women's rights.  She was born on August 10, 1858 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

"Only the Black woman can say, “When and where I enter, in the quiet undisputed dignity of my womanhood, without violence, and without suing, or special patronage, then and there, the whole Negro race enters with me. "  - Anna Julia Haywood Cooper

Tribute To Black History Month

December 19, 1875 – April 3, 1950 – Carter Godwin Woodson

Dr. Carter G. Woodson  began “Negro History Week” the forerunner to Black History Month. Dr. Woodson was a noted, historian, journalist, author and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.