French Sociology

"This collection is a major contribution to the reconstruction of gender balance in African-American history" --Manning Marable, Columbia University

Library Journal

Lemert and Bhan bring to life the remarkable Anna Julia Cooper (1858-1964), teacher, scholar, social activist, college president, writer, and emblem of black women of America. Although there are two important biographical studies of Cooper, by Louise Daniel Hutchinson (1981) and Leona C. Gabel (1982), this is the first collection of her writings. It includes her most famous published work, A Voice from the South, by a Black Woman of the South (1892), and an array of essays, speeches, and letters previously accessible only through archival collections, primarily Howard University's Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. The "voice" of Cooper clearly indicates an individual who knows who she is, what she believes, and what she wants and is forthright in presenting her views and convictions on race politics, feminism, social services, education, race and culture, and slavery. It is a "voice" well worth reading for the ideas and convictions expressed but also as a reflection of the progress and lack of progress in American culture. Editors Lemert (sociology, Wesleyan Univ.) and Bhan, former principal curator at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center and former director of the African American indexing project at the Smithsonian Institution, have created a book that belongs in all academic libraries.Jeris Cassel, Rutgers Univ. Libs., New Brunswick, NJ