Coralie Franklin Cook facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Coralie Franklin Cook
Coralie Franklin Cook, in a 1917 issue of The Crisis.
Born	1861 Lexington, Virginia
Died	1942
Occupation	Women's rights activist, educator and public speaker.

Coralie Franklin Cook (born March 1861 – died August 25, 1942) was an important American educator, public speaker, and government official. She was also the first known person descended from those enslaved at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate to graduate from college. Cook, along with other strong leaders like Mary Church Terrell and Anna J. Cooper, helped lead the fight for voting rights for African American women. They were important bridges between Black and white communities.

Early Life and Education

Coralie Franklin was born in Lexington, Virginia, in March 1861. Her parents, Albert Barbour Franklin and Mary Elizabeth Edmondson, had both been enslaved. Coralie was connected to the Hemings family, who were enslaved at Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. Her great-grandfather, Brown Colbert, was a former enslaved person and worked at Monticello.

Coralie had an older sister named Mary Elizabeth. In 1870, their father, who was well-respected, sent both daughters to Storer College in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. At that time, Storer was the only college for African Americans in West Virginia. Coralie was very good at reading and literature. She was so skilled that she often read aloud at public events, even as a child.

While at Storer College, Coralie was part of several groups. She was an honorary member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She also joined the Red Cross and the NAACP. She graduated from Storer College in 1880. This made her the first known college graduate among the descendants of Jefferson's enslaved people at Monticello. In 1881, she continued her studies in Boston and Philadelphia, focusing on elocution, which is the art of clear and expressive speaking.

Career and Activism

After graduating, Coralie Franklin Cook taught elocution and English at Storer College from 1882 to 1893. She also taught for a year in Hannibal, Missouri. Later, she moved to Washington, D.C., with her friend Mary Church Terrell to work in education. Coralie taught elocution at Howard University and was a professor at the Washington Conservatory of Music.

She also served on the Board of Education in Washington, D.C. She was the second African American woman to hold this important position, after Mary Church Terrell. For five years, she was the Director of the Home for Colored Children and Aged Women in Washington, D.C.

Fighting for Women's Rights

Coralie Franklin Cook and Mary Church Terrell became important leaders among African American women. They were key figures in the Black Women's Club movement. They were early members of the Colored Women's League of Washington. This group later joined with others to form the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) in 1896.

Cook was very active in the movement for women's voting rights, known as the woman's suffrage movement. She and Terrell were active members of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). They were part of the main group of leaders. Because they were educated, professional, and middle-class women, they were seen as "intelligent" women that leaders like Elizabeth Cady Stanton wanted to help get the right to vote.

She was also president of the Washington Artists' Association. Later in her life, she served on the Council of Social Welfare.

Powerful Speeches

Coralie Franklin Cook was a very strong public speaker. In 1900, she was the only African American woman invited to speak at Susan B. Anthony's 80th birthday party. Her speech praised the suffrage movement for helping women see their power. She also stressed the need for all women to support each other, no matter their race. She said, "no woman and no class of women can be degraded and all woman kind not suffer thereby."

However, she was sad that the cause of African American women was not a top priority for white women in the suffrage movement. She urged white women not to forget the voting rights of those who were less fortunate. She spoke directly to Susan B. Anthony, saying:

"...and so Miss Anthony, in behalf of the hundreds of colored women who wait and hope with you for the day when the ballot shall be in the hands of every intelligent woman; and also in behalf of the thousands who sit in darkness and whose condition we shall expect those ballots to better, whether they be in the hands of white women or Black, I offer you my warmest gratitude and congratulations."

In another speech called "Votes for Mothers," Cook again spoke about how important it was for both women and people of color to have the right to vote. She said, "Disfranchisement because of sex is curiously like disfranchisement because of color. It cripples the individual, it handicaps progress, it sets a limitation upon mental and spiritual development."

She also spoke at the Colored Women's League convention in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1895. In 1921, she gave a presentation on "Negro Poets" at the First Race Amity Convention.

Personal Life

In 1884, Coralie Franklin bought a home in Harpers Ferry. She bought it from Storer College, where she was teaching at the time. On August 31, 1898, she married George William Cook. He was a professor and Dean at Howard University. They had one son, George William Cook Jr., born on December 15, 1901.

Coralie and George were married for 33 years. George died on August 20, 1931. Coralie Franklin Cook passed away in 1942, at 81 years old.

Coralie's sister, Mary Franklin, was married to J. R. Clifford. He was a civil rights leader connected to the Niagara Movement.

Baháʼí Faith

Coralie Franklin Cook was a follower of the Baháʼí Faith. She represented the Baháʼí Faith among Black thinkers in Washington, D.C., starting around 1910. She officially joined the faith around 1913. Many Baháʼí activities in the Washington, D.C. area were organized by her.

She believed that the ideas of this faith could help young African Americans. She thought it would help them see their potential and have a more positive view of life. She is known for bringing this faith to Howard University students by organizing meetings on campus. Her work on race unity and helping the Black community was very important. She even wrote a letter to `Abdu'l-Bahá, one of the main figures of the faith. In her letter, she asked him to talk about the "Race Problem" and how it related to the Baháʼí Faith in the United States.