Postal Service Pays Tribute to Legendary Educator

What:

The Postal Service will unveil a 36”X45” enlargement of the Anna Julia Cooper commemorative stamp during the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration. 

Who:

Forest County Potawatomi Tribal Government Representative
Charley Miller, Milwaukee Postmaster

When:

Sunday, January 18, 2:30 p.m.

Where:

Marcus Center for the Performing Arts (Uihlein Hall)
929 N. Water Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 

Background:

Anna Julia Cooper — educator, scholar, feminist and activist — is the 32nd honoree in the Postal Service’s Black Heritage stamp series. Cooper gave voice to the African-American community during the 19th and 20th centuries, from the end of slavery to the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.
Cooper described her vocation as “the education of neglected people” and viewed learning as a means of true liberation. She is best known for her educational leadership, her challenges to the racist notion that African Americans were naturally inferior and her groundbreaking collection of essays and speeches, A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South (1892).
In Washington, D.C., Cooper helped establish local organizations for women, young people and the poor that addressed a range of issues including education, housing and unemployment. Cooper also used public speaking as a platform for change. In 1893, she spoke about the needs of African-American women at the Chicago World’s Fair, and she was one of only two African-American women to address the first Pan-African Conference in London in 1900.  Cooper died Feb. 27, 1964, at 105 years. 
She joins the other renowned individuals who placed their stamp on the nation’s history and are one of the 32 who are featured in the Black Heritage stamp series.  Others included:  Harriet Tubman, Jackie Robinson, Ella Fitzgerald, Hattie McDaniel, Paul Robeson, Ida B. Wells, Sojourner Truth, Roy Wilkins, Thurgood Marshall, Langston Hughes, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.