February 7, 2007
Page B2
B lack H istory M onth
She Helped Others Learn
Chicago, 1893
N o rth Pole, 1909
Harlem , 1920’s
Black d octo r perform s first
successful h ea it operation
A black
i> on roo
of the w orld
American Renansan.
B ro o klyn , 1947
M ontgom ery, 1955
BasebaH shows us
courage, its #42
Woman
And stands for justice
02007 The Coca-Cola Company “Coca-Cola
It's often said that one of the
Later she was recruited to the
greatest and most challenging ca­ most prestigious African Ameri­
reers a person can have is teaching. can school in the country, M Street
Almost 150 years ago a young black High School in Washington, D.C.
woman from the South was sent to where she became the principal and
St. Augustine’s Normal School and a noted leader in advocacy and
Collegiate Institute. Though only rights for minorities.
an adolescent, Anna Julie Hay ward
She wrote "A voice from the
had already made up her mind re­ South,” a book of speeches and
garding her lifetime career choice. essays on her political opinions. In
She wanted to help others learn.
1923, at the age o f 26, she became
After getting her teaching cre­ the fourth black woman in America
dentials at 17, she took a job at the to earn her doctorate.
school as a teacher. By the
time she was 19, she fell in
love with a fellow teacher,
George Cooper. They were
married, but not without
paying a heavy price.
Young married women
in professional careers at
the time were generally not
allowed to work after be­
ing wed. They were ex­
pected to stay home, take
care of the house and raise
children. Two more years
would pass and Anna be­
came a widow. Broken
hearted and unemployed
she enrolled at Oberlin
Col lege i n Oh io and earned
a bachelors degree, only
the second black woman
in America to have done
so. The year was I884 and
she was in her early 20s.
A fte r te a c h in g at Anna Julie Hayward
As the eldest o f two daughters
Wilberforce University, Anna was
asked to co m e back to St. of a black woman slave and a
Augustine's where she taught Ger­ white slave master named George
man, Latin and Mathematics. It was W ashington Haywood, C ooper
almost unheard of in those days to was caught between two worlds.
be a black woman and able to speak W hile white people in the South
were generally cruel to descen­
three languages.
DC, 1963
u inspires a nation
drp<«m together.
Coke ” and the Contour Bottle are trademarks of The Coca-Cola Company
C M 1-800-USA-RAIL, yaun t/rawf, ay&ti on, viAit Amtrak.com.
A M
Amtrak is a registered service mark ot the National Railroad Passenger Corporation
I
T R
A K ’
dents of Africa, black folks often
shunned those of a mixed heri­
tage.
As Anna was also female, she
faced even further discrimination.
Men of all colors and backgrounds
felt intimidated by women who were
sm art.Inherfieldofacadem iaitw as
no different.
At home she was a stern, kind
and loving parent. Although she
never married after George died and
did not have any children of her
own, she raised two foster
children and five great
nephews and nieces.
After helping educate
kids all her life, she be­
cam e
p re sid e n t
of
Frelinghysen University
in W ashington D.C., a
school primarily for edu­
cating black adults. Many
years later the col lege lost
its charter and had to
close. Although Cooper
felt disappointed, she re­
tired knowing that she had
made a huge difference in
her long and successful
career.
She lived to be 105
years old, never losing
sight of helping the hu­
man mind grow, regard­
less of the age, color or sex
o f the person. Her tireless
efforts helped thousands
of black Americans reach their true
educational potential.
A nna C o o p e r ch an g ed the
American landscape and helped
bring the American Dream to many
who might have otherwise never
found it.