Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
2 Video recordings (open reel, 1/2 inch)
1 Sound recording (audio cassette)
Type:
Archival materials
Video recordings
Sound recordings
Lectures
Place:
Anacostia (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.)
Raleigh (N.C.)
United States
Date:
circa 1981
Scope and Contents:
Dr. Paul Phillips Cooke speaks on the subject of Anna J. Cooper: Teacher and Human Being. He talks about Cooper's life and the time in which she lived; and her human and religious influences. Cooke, who assisted with the Cooper exhibition at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, provides an overview of Cooper's history and addresses questions from the lecture audience. Cooke also provides an overview of the history of educational institutions and schools, and the education system in Washington, D.C. He discusses civil rights, legislation changes in D.C., and how civil rights legislation affected Cooper, W. E. DuBois, and Booker T. Washington. Zora Martin-Felton introduces Cooke providing a short history of his Anacostian roots.
Lecture. AV003264: Part 1. AV003220: Part 2. Part of Anna J. Cooper: A Voice from the South Audiovisual Records. AV003264 and AV003220: undated. AV001346: dated 19830925, audio only, contains part of (copy of) AV003220 recording.
Biographical / Historical:
The collection, Anna J. Cooper: A Voice from the South Audiovisual Records, contains sound and video recordings of exhibit tours, gallery talks, and lectures associated with an exhibition, Anna J. Cooper: A Voice from the South. The exhibition presented the life and times of Washington, D.C. black educator and author Anna Julia Haywood Cooper through historical documents, photographs, memorabilia, and re-creations of her home and classroom settings. It was organized by the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and held there from February 1981 to September 1982; Louise Daniel Hutchinson served as curator. The exhibition was based on an unpublished manuscript by the late Dr. Leona Gable, Smith College; and titled after Cooper's written work, A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South.;Educator, author, and speaker Anna Julia Haywood Cooper (1858-1964) was born into slavery and educated at Saint Augustine's Normal School and Collegiate Institute in Raleigh, North Carolina. While teaching at St. Augustine's, she married George A. C. Cooper, who died two years later. After her husband's death, Cooper moved to Washington, D.C., attended Oberlin College, taught at Wilberforce College and M Street High School, and later went on to earn her Ph.D. from the University of Paris-Sorbonne. Cooper taught Greek, Latin, geometry, and science; and created a path for African Americans to attend Ivy League schools. Although she taught and served as principal (1902-1906) of the M Street High School (now Dunbar High School) in Washington, D.C., her role and influence extended beyond its boundaries. Cooper was an advocate of human rights who lectured on a broad range of topics that affected blacks and women, including race relations, poverty, and gender inequality; a feminist of her day. She was a contributor to the District of Columbia's Colored Settlement House; served as president of Frelinghuysen University, which offered affordable liberal arts and professional courses for working African Americans; and wrote A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South, the first book-length volume of black feminist analysis in the United States.;Educator, author, statesman, and former president of the District of Columbia Teacher's College Dr. Paul Phillips Cooke (1917-2010) was born in New York City and raised in Washington, D.C. He attended Dunbar High School, Miner Teachers College, New York University, Catholic University of America, and Columbia University, where he received his doctorate. Cooke was married to Rose Cooke for 63 years.;Originally named Preparatory High School for Colored Youth and later known as M Street High School, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, located in Washington, D.C., was the first black public high school in the United States. During the first half of the twentieth century, Dunbar was an academically elite public school with many of its teachers holding master and doctorate degrees. By the 1950s, the school was sending 80 percent of its students to college. During the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, Dunbar struggled to keep its prestigious reputation and high standards. As with many troubled urban public schools, Dunbar standards fell and some students struggle with basic reading and math. The Dunbar Legacy Lecture Series, which was held at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in the early 1980s, consisted of lectures by and about people associated with Dunbar High School.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003220
ACMA AV001346_B
General:
Title transcribed from physical asset.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.