Vivian M. May explores the theoretical and political contributions of Anna Julia Cooper, a renowned Black feminist scholar, educator and activist whose ideas deserve far more attention than they have received. Drawing on Africana and feminist theory, May places Cooper's theorizing in its historical contexts and offers new ways to interpret the evolution of Cooper's visionary politics, subversive methodology, and defiant philosophical outlook. Rejecting notions that Cooper was an elitist duped by dominant ideologies, May contends that Cooper's ambiguity, code-switching, and irony should be understood as strategies of a radical methodology of dissent.

May shows how across six decades of work, Cooper traced history's silences and delineated the workings of power and inequality in an array of contexts, from science to literature, economics to popular culture, religion to the law, education to social work, and from the political to the personal. May emphasizes that Cooper eschewed all forms of mastery and called for critical consciousness and collective action on the part of marginalized people at home and abroad. She concludes that in using a border-crossing, intersectional approach, Cooper successfully argues for theorizing from experience, develops inclusive methods of liberation, and crafts a vision of a fundamentally egalitarian social imaginary.

Reviews

May has written the first book to really situate Cooper as a radical intellectual. She elucidates not only Cooper's brilliant critique of racism and sexism, but her cross-disciplinary analysis of literature, education, religion, law and American culture. Most importantly, May establishes Cooper's philosophy of liberation-one that is global, historically grounded, passionate, and lived. From now on, anyone teaching 20th century intellectual history must come to terms with Anna Julia Cooper. -Robin D. G. Kelley, Columbia University, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination

"May persuasively argues that Cooper's philosophical ideas are much more revolutionary-radical even-and subversive of dominant ideology than previously judged. This book will become central to the scholarship on 19th and early 20th century African American women writers." -Trudier Harris, UNC Chapel Hill, author of Saints, Sinners, Saviors: Strong Black Women in African American Literature

"May places Cooper in a rich political, philosophical and literary context in which her prescient work can at long last be fully appreciated. She enables readers to understand just how and why Cooper might have been misunderstood, and links such misunderstanding with some of the very political constraints under which Cooper labored. This promises to be the kind of book about which people will say, 'Wow! How can we have missed out on all this?'" -Elizabeth V. Spelman, Smith College, author of Fruits of Sorrow: Framing Our Attention to Suffering

"May has accomplished a major feat: she has given one of the greatest philosophical and political thinkers of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century her intellectual due." -- African American Review

We received two glowing reviews. The first from Elizabeth Spelman (professor of philosophy at Smith College and a contributor to the London Review of Books) wrote:

This promises to be an exciting and important book on a notable but not well understood figure in American social and political thought, a thinker and activist who laid significant groundwork for later developments in feminist and anti-racist thought. Prof. May's well-informed, graceful writing places Cooper in a rich political, philosophical, and literary context in which her prescient work can at long last be fully appreciated. ... Prof. May has indicated that her intended audience is mostly rather advanced students in courses offered in both some of the traditional disciplines and some of the newer interdisciplinary fields. That seems just right. But also think it promises to be the kind of academic book that will appeal to a broad general audience, a work that will be reviewed not only in scholarly journals but in newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times and The Nation. ... I certainly would use Prof. May's book, particularly in courses which in one way or another focus on racism and sexism (e.g., courses in feminist theory, in African American social and political thought). ... This surely is a project you should be proud to publish. It promises to be the kind of book about which people will say something along the lines of "Wow! How can we have missed out on all of this?"

The second reviewer, Trudier Harris (U of North Carolina), was similarly enthusiastic, calling the project "excellent" and adding, "I strongly recommend that Routledge pursue this project."

Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society

In Anna Julia Cooper, Visionary Black Feminist: A Critical Introduction,Vivian M. May offers a refreshingly original analysis of and critical engagement with Cooper's scholarship. Without hesitation, I would describe this text as one of the best books written on Cooper to date. May offers a close and careful reading of Cooper's writings coupled with equally close readings of the secondary literature available on Cooper. The result is a well-researched examination of a wide range of black feminist thought in general and scholarship on Cooper in particular, scholarship that identifies and addresses crucial debates surrounding Cooper's life and her work. May offers rich and robust readings of Cooper coupled with meticulously constructed counterarguments to critics. The result is a smart and provocative "must read" for anyone interested in learning, teaching, or writing about Anna Julia Cooper.

Kathryn T. Gines

Book Information
ISBN 9780415956437
Author Vivian M. May
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 470g