"In Service for the Common Good": Anna Julia Cooper and Adult Education.

COOPER, Anna J. (Anna Julia), 1858-1964; AFRICAN American women educators; HISTORY of education of African Americans; WORKING poor; ADULT education; EDUCATIONAL objectives; UNITED States education system; HISTORY; EDUCATION

This article discusses the views of African American author and educator Anna Julia Cooper (1858-1964) on adult education for the African American working poor. Cooper's work at Frelinghuysen University for Employed Colored Persons in Washington D.C. in the 1930s and 1940s is discussed, as are her ideas about adult education as liberal education and social action, both for the self-improvement of oppressed peoples and for the betterment of society as a whole. The curriculum and pedagogy at Frelinghuysen are also discussed.