Page:Women of distinction.djvu/273

Rh Raleigh, N. C, and taiiglit two years. In 1887 she was elected to a position in the High School of Washington, D. C., where she has been engaged in teaching ever since. She has just published a book entitled "A Voice From the South," which we have not as yet had opportunity to examine. That Mrs. Cooper is a lady of rare ability is acknowledged by all scholars who know her.

As great and as learned, as refined and popular as she is, she is still not exempted from humiliation on public railways in some parts of the South. Just a few days ago (the last days of 1892) she chanced to visit her old home and peep in upon her friends in Raleigh, N. C, and when leaving even this city of her birth she was insulted in a waiting-room at the depot, and ejected from the room. For what? Simply because she was a colored woman.

Insulted and ejected (with a first-class ticket in her hand) by a white man who is by far her inferior in every respect. [.—I mention this treatment here as simply an opportunity to place it upon record, and let it go down in history to posterity.] Indeed, it is true that great negro women work hard and go through much that is far from being pleasant after as well as before achieving greatness.

However the storms, and whatever the difficulties, the women of this race have bright prospects of a better future in such pioneers and representatives as Mrs. A. J. Cooper.