Anna Julia Cooper, Archival Absences, and Black Women's "muffled" Knowledge

“We Come Not Here to Talk”—Revisiting the Work of Anna Julia Cooper: An Analysis of Standpoint Theory and Her Placement in the Academic Canon

“…Anna Julia Cooper earned her Ph.D. from the Sorbonne at sixty‐seven. She was the fourth African American woman to earn a Doctorate and the first to earn a Doctorate from the Sorbonne in France (May 2021:255).…”

“…Cooper's work and life is important to examine and has relevance for today's Black feminists and all scholars of color about what “it means when the set of practices, institutions, mentors, knowledge paradigms, and materials at one's disposal objectify, deny, or aim to eviscerate one's personhood, history and voice” (May 2021:255). In her essay Sketches from a Teacher's Notebook: The Loss of Speech Through Isolation , Cooper questions the disproportionate relationships of those in power and those who are powerless (Moody‐Turner 2009:62).…”

“…She also refers to the complicity of white women when she speaks of a Kentucky women's rights organization called Wimodaughsis (shorthand for wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters). She refers to the organization as “Whimodaughsis” to indicate it is only interested in white women's rights (May 2021:245).…”

“…She debated that the Black woman had, indeed, a unique voice that differed from that of the Black man. Cooper believed that one could learn lessons from the Black woman's lived‐experiences and supported particular pedagogies for Black girls, stating that “a coalitional, intersectional political path” is necessary for these girls due to their distinctive positionality (May 2021:245).…”

“…Although her work is not known as a contribution to the symbolic interactionism (SI) canon, I argue that Cooper's rhetorical strategy of merging the rational with lived experiences contributes to the spirit of SI. She also used an interpretative approach to provide an alternative rendering of history, which was informed by her lived experience (May 2021:241). Cooper's work is the foundation for standpoint theory and intersectionality.…”