Helen Appo Cook facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Helen Appo Cook
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Appo Cook in 1898.
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Helen Appo
July 21, 1837 New York, United States
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| Died | November 20, 1913 (aged 76) Washington, D.C., United States
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| Occupation | women's club leader, community activist |
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| Children | 5 |
| Parent(s) | William Appo Elizabeth Brady |
Helen Appo Cook (born July 21, 1837 – died November 20, 1913) was an important African-American activist in Washington, D.C. She was a key leader in the women's club movement. This movement helped women work together for social change.
Cook helped start the Colored Women's League. This group later joined with another to form the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) in 1896. This organization is still active today. Helen Cook strongly supported voting rights for all people. She was also a member of the Niagara Movement, which fought against racial segregation and for voting rights for Black Americans.
In 1898, Cook bravely spoke out against Susan B. Anthony. Anthony was the president of the National Woman's Suffrage Association. Cook asked her to support voting rights for everyone, not just white women.
Contents
Early Life and Inspiration
Helen Cook was born in New York. Her father, William Appo, was a well-known musician. Her mother, Elizabeth Brady Appo, owned a hat-making business. Because of her father's music career, Helen's family lived in different cities. These included Baltimore and Philadelphia, before they settled in New York.
As a teenager, Helen often went to meetings about women's rights with her mother. She felt a strong connection to the cause of women's equality. She once said that she grew up with a deep understanding and support for women's rights. She remembered attending Sunday afternoon meetings at the home of Lucretia Mott, a famous abolitionist. There, she heard speeches from people like the English abolitionist George Thompson.
As an adult, Cook attended the first meeting about voting rights in Washington, D.C. This meeting happened in January 1869. It was organized by the Universal Franchise Association.
Leading the Way: Activism and Change
Helping Those in Need
In 1864, a group called the National Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored Women and Children was created. The United States Congress officially approved this group. Its goal was to provide a safe home, food, clothes, and education for Black women and children who needed help. Elizabeth Keckley, who was a seamstress and friend to former First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, helped start this group.
Helen Cook was a member of this association for almost 35 years. She held many important leadership roles. In 1880, she became the first African American woman elected as the Secretary of the association. She held this job for ten years. Many Black men also supported the group. Frederick Douglass, a famous abolitionist, became a lifetime member in 1866. Helen Cook's husband, John F. Cook Jr., also joined the board in 1885. He helped the group financially and worked to get money from Congress.
The association ran a building for homeless people and orphans. Helen Cook was the President of the association when she passed away.
Founding the Colored Women's League
In 1892, Helen Cook, along with other important women like Ida B. Wells, Anna Julie Cooper, and Mary Church Terrell, started the Colored Women's League (CWL) in Washington, D.C. This club focused on helping the community. Its main goals were to bring people together, encourage social progress, and support the interests of the African American community. Helen Cook was chosen as its first president.
Cook wrote about the CWL's activities in The Woman's Era. This was the first national newspaper written by and for African American women. In 1894, she shared that the CWL raised nearly $2,000 for a permanent home. They also held public talks for girls and started classes in German, English, and hygiene. The league also opened a sewing school with many students and teachers. They even paid for two nursing students' tuition and helped hire a kindergarten teacher.
In May 1898, Helen Cook spoke at a big meeting called the National Congress of Mothers. This group later became today's National Parent Teachers Association. In her speech, she argued that negative behaviors among African Americans were not natural. Instead, she said they were a result of poverty and prejudice. W. E. B. Du Bois, another famous leader, also spoke at this conference.
Later in 1898, W.E.B. DuBois asked Helen Cook to write a paper for the Atlanta Conference of Negro Problems. This conference aimed to find solutions for challenges faced by the African American community. Helen Cook's paper highlighted the CWL's achievements. She mentioned that their kindergartens enrolled over 100 children.
Over time, the Colored Women's League created a training center for kindergarten teachers. They also ran seven free kindergartens and several day nurseries. The league also started sewing schools, night schools, and savings banks. By 1903, the league had its own building and was the largest African American women's club in the country.
The league's members always hoped for a national organization. Mary Church Terrell wrote in 1893 that the CWL invited women from all over the country to join. Their goal was to create a national organization.
Uniting Black Women's Clubs
In 1895, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin invited Black women from across America to a conference in Boston. This meeting was to discuss important issues for Black women. It happened after some unfair comments were made about the character of African American women.
The Colored Women's League and 24 other clubs attended the First National Conference of the Colored Women of America in July 1895. Helen Cook was elected as a vice-president of the convention.
Helen Cook gave a speech called "The Ideal National Union." She called for unity among Black women and explained the goals of a national organization. She also spoke about her vision for a national group on the last day of the conference. The idea for a national organization was approved, and a committee was formed to plan it.
A year later, in July 1896, Black women's clubs met again in Washington, D.C. At this meeting, a motion passed to combine two groups: the National Federation of Afro American Women and the Colored Women's League. This new, larger organization was named the National Association of Colored Women. Mary Church Terrell was elected as its first president.
Standing Up to Susan B. Anthony
On February 15, 1898, the House Committee on Judiciary listened to representatives from the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). They were discussing a change to the U.S. Constitution to give women the right to vote. Susan B. Anthony, a famous women's rights activist, spoke at this hearing. She talked about "ignorant" people who had the right to vote.
Anthony suggested that the proposed Fifteenth Amendment, which would give Black men the right to vote, was insulting to white women. She said that the right to vote was given to "every man outside the State Prison." Yet, she noted, women had to beg for rights they should have had long ago. Anthony also compared many former enslaved people to highly intelligent women who were politically inferior to them.
Days later, Helen Cook responded to Susan B. Anthony's comments. She wrote a letter published in Washington Post. Cook expressed her "pained surprise" at Anthony's testimony. She reminded Anthony of her own long history of working for women's rights. Cook urged Anthony to promote universal suffrage (voting rights for everyone) instead of criticizing Black men. She pointed out Anthony's "great influence" and asked her to support voting rights for all.
Joining the Niagara Movement
When she was almost 70 years old, Helen Cook and her husband, John F. Cook, Jr., traveled to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. They went to attend the national meeting of the Niagara Movement in August 1906. The Niagara Movement (1905–1910) was an African American civil rights group. It was started by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. Their goal was to fight against racial segregation and to gain voting rights for Black Americans.
John Cook was a member of the organization. At the meeting, it was decided that women could become associate members. Helen Cook then became an associate member.
Family Life
Helen married John Francis Cook, Jr. in 1864. He became one of the wealthiest African American residents in Washington, D.C. In 1895, his wealth was reported to be around $200,000. He held important jobs, including D.C.'s chief tax collector from 1874 to 1884. He also served as a trustee for Howard University.
The Cooks had five children: Elizabeth Appo Cook (born 1864), John Francis Cook, III (born 1868), Charles Chaveau Cook (born around 1871), George Frederick Cook (born 1874), and Ralph Victor Cook (born 1875).
Later Years and Legacy
Helen Cook passed away on November 20, 1913, in Washington, D.C. She died from pneumonia and heart failure at her family home. An African American newspaper noted that she was "easily the wealthiest colored woman in the District of Columbia." It also mentioned that she was very interested in Black organizations and charity work. She was known as a kind and understanding woman.
Cook was buried at Columbian Harmony Cemetery alongside her husband and other family members.
