ABSTRACT
Anna Julia Cooper is one of the most distinctly recognizable of those powerful and influential American black women whose lineage goes back, at least, to Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman in the nineteenth century, and Phyllis Wheatley in the eighteenth. Yet, in contrast to other notable women in the tradition, Anna Cooper’s reputation as a foundational figure among black feminists in America is fraught with ambiguity. What is striking about her, both visually and personally, shines against the ambiguities without always illuminating them. She is venerated for her heroic life. But Cooper is also, and regularly, the subject of controversy among those who today look back to her as she was in her lifetime. As a result, both the striking and the ambiguous must be considered if we are to understand, and take with full seriousness, Anna Julia Cooper’s exceptional place in American history.
