A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South

In “Woman Versus the Indian” Cooper expands on the theme of Black Feminism and Intersectional Oppression. She begins by criticizing racial discrimination within white women’s organizations for gender equality during the period, illuminating an ongoing issue within the feminist movement. She highlights Black women’s exclusion, noting that several political organizations “had not calculated that there were any wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters, except white ones” (49). Simultaneously, she evaluates the women’s movement of the period and highlights the significance of their cause. Women’s organizing began to influence “[their] immediate world” and made society “feel the vibrations” (51). Cooper calls for unity among all women to achieve equality: “[M]ay it not be that, as women, the very lessons which seem hardest to master now, are possibly the ones most essential for our promotion to a higher grade of work?” (51). She says that women have a responsibility to disseminate their ideas and proclaim their cause throughout society.

However, Cooper’s intersectional analysis also extends to class. She highlights that class issues were also divisive for the movement, as many white middle-class women were at the forefront of the gender struggle. For Cooper, white women were afraid of losing their social privilege: “With all her vaunted independence, the American woman of to-day is as fearful of losing caste as a Brahmin in India” (53). Hence, Cooper articulates an idea that also crops up in later Black feminist thought, namely the idea that people are often resistant to support equality due to their own vested interest in maintaining their privileged status.

Extending her analysis on women’s rights, Cooper underlines the challenges of Black womanhood. The burden of intersectional oppression due to race and gender wounds the Black female self: “The feeling of slighted womanhood is unlike every other emotion of the soul” (54). Violence was always a threat for Black people in general. As Black women were among the most vulnerable people within American society, Cooper stresses that people’s behavior toward them marked a standard of culture and civilization. Cooper also criticizes the cruelty and dehumanizing policies of segregation, which were becoming increasingly prevalent in the South. The theme of Black feminism and intersectional oppression continues as Cooper analyzes the responsibility of white women. She criticizes the fact that they were claiming equality for all people while continuing racial discrimination within their political organizations.

Cooper’s text also belies the idea that Black oppression ended with the abolition of slavery. She emphasizes that racism persisted in American society due to the legacy of enslavement that dehumanized African Americans and reinforced the idea of white supremacy. The theme of The Quest for Black Liberation in the Post-Reconstruction Era becomes evident as Cooper indicates the increasing disenfranchisement of African Americans during the period. She notes that “Southern ideas and Southern ideals” continued to be influential throughout the country (60), illustrating the persistence of racism within American society. Even after the abolition of slavery and the emancipation of African Americans, freedom remained fragile. Cooper stresses that the South defied the Constitution to keep African Americans oppressed.

The theme of the quest for Black liberation in the post-Reconstruction era intertwines with the theme of Black feminism and intersectional oppression as Cooper proclaims the humanity of Black people to explain “social equality” to her contemporaries. She states, “My ‘people’ are just like other people […] [t]hey hate, they love, […] exactly like all the rest of unregenerate humanity” (66). African Americans sought autonomy and equal civil rights “to live [their] own life” (66). To this end, the women’s movement was crucial; they had to help counter discrimination and prejudices to claim humanity for all. Cooper counters exclusionary thinking and demonstrates her intersectional approach by connecting race, gender, and class discrimination simultaneously. She states, “[W]hen all the weak shall have received their consideration, then woman will have her ‘rights,’ and the Indian will have his rights, and the Negro will have his rights” (69). For Cooper, discrimination based on race, class, and gender are “the belittling inheritance and badge of snobs and prigs” (70). Ultimately, the quest for freedom is not a goal of a specific race but a cause for all humans. Women, whose cause connects “with every wrong that needs a voice” (72), are the ones who can achieve social change and make justice prevail.