The higher education of woman, of the book A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South (1982) by Anna Julia Cooper

Abstract

Anna Julia Cooper’s text “The Higher Education of Woman,” originally published in the book A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South (1892), presents a compelling defense of the importance of women’s access, especially black women, to higher education. Cooper, through a critical analysis of the historical limitations imposed on women in education, argues that the intellectual, moral, and spiritual advancement of women directly contributes to the overall progress of society. The author challenges patriarchal and racist discourses that legitimized the exclusion of women from intellectual life, while recovering historical experiences of educated women from Antiquity to the 19th century. The text also denounces the inequality of opportunities faced by Black women in educational institutions and calls for effective action to expand their access and permanence in universities. Although written in the 19th century, the essay remains relevant for its engagement with the intersections of race, gender, and education, and stands as a pioneering work in the formulation of ideas that would later shape intersectionality studies. In this text, translated for the first time into Portuguese, one can observe the potentials, limitations, and idiosyncrasies of Cooper’s arguments, which help illuminate the intellectual debates of her time.