DoughMain Financial Literacy Foundation Celebrates Black History Month: Anna Julia Cooper

By: AA, DMFLF

Stories abound throughout American lore of challenges conquered, boundaries overcome, and perseverance triumphing against calculations of certain failure. This nation’s mythos has been preserved by continuously producing homegrown heroes, those who have stood up to opposing nations, who have developed technologies hitherto unseen in human history, who were placed in a powerless position and decided to take the reins instead of staying down, people who were told “no” and, instead of folding in the moment, ignored the offense and shouted back an emphatic “yes!”. In every fiber of our nation’s being and every corner of our geographic landscape you can find stories that captivate the imagination and prove that anything, and everything, is possible. All it takes is the guts to ignore the cards stacked up against you, to recognize your self-worth and personal power, and to know that the only limitations a human being possesses are those they create within their own mind.

Black History Month is the time to celebrate the distinguished accomplishments of African-American citizens, a sect of this countries populace that knows a thing or two about triumphing when the cards have been stacked outside of their favor. From Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass to Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks, legends abound within the brief but vastly important history of the freed African-American race, who have accomplished much since the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 finally released the chains of enslavement. It has not been an easy road, not by any stretch of the imagination, but rather a road peppered with victories and setbacks, displays of good and evil, and the undying determination of a group of people to prove themselves in a nation that has many times over neglected and refused them.

Yes, the road has been long and winding, and many a roadblock has appeared to delay or detour the route to freedom. But to travel a road, any road, no matter how winding or treacherous, you must have an adventurer, an explorer ready and willing to chart a new landscape, to cut through the brambles and branches of uncharted wilderness and to finally arrive (mostly) unscathed in the Promised Land. There have been many African-Americans to do just that, and it is only right that we celebrate them for their accomplishments, which came doubly as hard as the rest of America’s, and almost didn’t come at all. Without the pioneers and the trailblazers, those who risked everything and even sacrificed their lives for the cause, there would never have been any opportunity at all.

There are many names in African-American history oft celebrated for their accolades and accomplishments. But what about the quiet ones, the ones that found success and paved new paths without the fanfare and glamor of national celebrity? One such person receiving far less reverence than ordinarily reserved for a person of greatness is Anna Julia Cooper, who became the fourth African-American woman to ever earn a doctorate degree. To understand her story, and the difficulties she faced, we have to travel a long way, to multiple continents, and deep into the past to a world much different than the present one.

Anna Julia Cooper was born into enslavement in 1858 in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was raised by her mother and owned by the man assumed to be her father, George Washington Haywood, until freed in the postbellum era following the events of the Civil War. Using her newfound freedom she eventually earned a tuition scholarship to Oberlin College in Ohio, where she earned a B.A. and an M.A. in Mathematics. This helped her land jobs at Wilberforce University and Saint Augustine’s. After holding these positions for some time, Anna relocated to Washington, D.C. and took a position teaching at Washington Colored High School. Finally, in 1924, at the age of 67, after an indeterminate amount of setbacks, and a long way from the bondage that marked her birth and early years, Anna earned a Doctorate of Philosophy from the Sorbonne in France (1).

Anna’s life was marked by much more than her vast accomplishments in her education. She published books outlining the advantages of affording women the right to education, especially African-American women. Unlike Booker T. Washington, she believed it was necessary for African-Americans to be book-learned in both arts and sciences, while Washington was a tremendous proponent of a strict vocational education (2). She also lectured across America on topics as wide-ranging as civil rights, education, and the status of black women in the nation and world. Anna also helped to found the Colored Women’s League in 1892 and later joined the executive committee of the first Pan-African conference in 1900. All of this was done as she raised children and grandchildren, studied for her degrees, and helped to run and establish other schools and programs in various parts of the nation. She died at the impressive age of 105 in 1964, only months before the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law by President Johnson.

Anna Julia Cooper’s legacy has lived on, and she is best remembered now as one of the original advocators for African-American rights and education. In 2009, the Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School was established in Richmond, Virginia. When the school was opened it enrolled 25 students, and by the following year had upgraded to 35 students and used the basement of a nearby church as additional space for education. Since its inception, the school has continued to grow and expand, adding new grade levels and additional students as they continue Anna’s mission to deliver education to those born into underprivileged and underserved circumstances. In the words of the Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School mission statement: “Our vision is to provide students with the tools necessary to help ensure them the opportunity for a full and meaningful life. For many of our students, this will mean continuing on to college after high school graduation. For all of our students, it means developing the self-confidence, strength of character, academic skills and sense of hope needed to open the door to a promising future.”(3).

Many along the way have helped to make Anna Julia Cooper’s dream possible. The Barney Charter School Initiative has aided schools, such as the one proposed bearing Anna Julia Cooper’s name, through large charitable donations, thus allowing her once seemingly impossible mission to become a full-fledged reality. According to the Hillsdale College website, the Barney Charter School Initiative “is a project of Hillsdale College devoted to the education of young Americans. Through this initiative, the College supports the launch of K-12 charter schools. These schools will train the minds and improve the hearts of young people through a rigorous, classical education in the liberal arts and sciences, with instruction in the principles of moral character and civic virtue”. The Barney Family Foundation has been the largest donor to the Barney Charter School Initiative, paving the way for other donations of similar size to be provided. These generous donations have allowed countless children to benefit from an education that otherwise may have been impossible, helping to continue that old American tradition of those less fortunate rising up to the challenges life has presented them, this time with a little extra help from a caring benefactor in the Barney Family (4).

Leading the Barney Charter School Initiative effort is Benjamin Couch Payne, who is the current Project Officer in charge of maintaining the charter schools and helping to establish more of them throughout the nation. His experience in urban and classical schools, including as Director of the Savannah Classical Academy in Georgia, has paved the way for the establishment of an urban classical school inspired by Dr. Cooper. Through tireless work and dedication to our nation’s underprivileged youth, Payne has impacted many lives in a positive and lasting way through education and opportunity that otherwise may have passed them by.

Benjamin Payne has also recognized the importance of financial education in our school system. Regarding financial literacy, he has been quoted as saying: “Financial literacy for many students will mean the difference between the pursuit of their dreams and falling short due to the forced decisions they'll have to make when financial stress takes over”. He has made it a personal mission to ensure that the students of his charter schools are knowledgeable regarding the financial institutions of this country, and for that he has turned to the DoughMain Financial Literacy Foundation and their FitKit curriculum. The FitKit is a 60-hour curriculum offered completely free-of-charge and has been designed for direct implementation into previously established school curriculums as an additional educational tool. The curriculum affords students vast amounts of financial knowledge including how to save money, how to manage various bank accounts, what to expect when encountering taxes, and how to avoid the pitfalls of revolving credit card debt. To keep the information engaging, the curriculum has also incorporated games, videos, and educational assessments into the lessons.

America has journeyed a considerable distance, both literally and metaphorically, since Anna Julia Cooper’s birth in 1858. The world of yesterday seems an impossibility today; African-Americans are an integral part of our American society and national identity, and their generous impact on the nation as a whole is forever ingrained into the cultural landscape. Their accomplishments are vast and far-reaching, and a month is not nearly long enough when attempting to truly celebrate every facet of their overarching impact. These accomplishments merely display that when given the opportunity, no matter the circumstances, any single person regardless of race can achieve anything that is possible to imagine.

Based on how he has dedicated his life to the cause of education, it seems fair to assume that Benjamin Couch Payne believes the next Anna Julia Cooper may be in one of these charter schools now, waiting for his or her opportunity to create a better world for the future of America. Come to think of it, here at DoughMain Financial Literacy Foundation we think so too.

Bibliography

1. BlackPast. (2019). Anna Julia Haywood Cooper (1858-1964) ? BlackPast. [online] Available at: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/cooper-anna-julia-haywood-1 858-1964/ [Accessed 11 Feb. 2019]. 2. Anon, (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anna-Julia-Coope {Accessed 11 Feb. 2019]. 3. Annajuliacooperepiscopalschool.org. (2019). Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School / Richmond,Virginia. [online] Available at: https://annajuliacooperepiscopalschool.org/ [Accessed 11Feb. 2019]. 4. Hillsdale College. (2019). The Barney Charter School Initiative. [online] Available at: https://www.hillsdale.edu/educational-outreach/barney-charter-school-initiative [Accessed 11 Feb. 2019].