LeDroit Park in Northwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
A Voice from the South
Worthy Ambition
— LeDroit Park/Bloomingdale Heritage Trail —
Photographed By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), April 10, 2021
This Circle Honors Anna Julia Haywood Cooper the educator and civil and women's rights advocate who lived in the gracious house at 201 T Street from 1916 until her death in 1964 at age 105. Born into slavery, Cooper graduated from Oberlin College. She taught at DC's prestigious M Street School, the nation's first high school for African Americans, and became its principal in 1902. Despite pressure to emphasize vocational subjects, Cooper stressed academics. Consequently many of her students won Ivy league college scholarships. She also helped organize the Colored Woman's League of Washington, D.C., received a Ph.D. in French from the Sorbonne at age 65, and presided over Frelinghuysen University, a night school for working adults.
At age 55, Cooper became guardian for five grand nieces and nephews, the youngest just six months old. “To house their southern exuberance,” she wrote. she purchased her LeDroit Park home. “The house had been used as a chicken yard by its white tenants and I immediately set about landscaping.”
The double house at 1901-03 Third Street once belonged to General William M. Birney, a white Union military officer who recruited enslaved African Americans during the Civil War (1861-1865). Birney, later a U.S. attorney for DC, published a biography of his father, noted abolitionist James Gillespie Birney.
Now restored to its original State, Anna Cooper Circle was split in half for many years for the convenience of cars and buses. Longtime preservationist Theresa Brown spearheaded the restoration effort in 1982. When Brown and LeDroit Park Civic Association Secretary Lauretta Jackson helped gain Historic District status for LeDroit Park in 1974, Howard University was prevented from razing original houses to expand its campus.
Erected 2015 by Cultural Heritage DC. (Marker Number 3.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Education • War, US Civil • Women. In addition, it is included in the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and the LeDroit Park/Bloomingdale Heritage Trail series lists. A significant historical year for this entry is 1916.
Location. 38° 54.955′ N, 77° 0.955′ W. Marker is in Northwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia. It is in LeDroit Park. Marker is at the intersection of Anna J. Cooper Circle Northwest and T Street Northwest, on the right when traveling south on Anna J. Cooper Circle Northwest. In Anna J. Cooper Circle Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 300 Anna J Cooper Circle Northwest, Washington DC 20001, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking
Photographed By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), April 10, 2021
Also see . . .
1. Ledroit Park, African American Heritage Trail. Cultural Tourism DC (Submitted on September 4, 2015.)
2. The Anna Julia Cooper Center. Wake Forest University (Submitted on September 4, 2015.)
3. Anna J. Cooper. Wikipedia (Submitted on September 4, 2015.)
Credits. This page was last revised on January 30, 2023. It was originally submitted on September 4, 2015, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. This page has been viewed 817 times since then and 36 times this year. Last updated on April 12, 2021, by Carl Gordon Moore Jr. of North East, Maryland. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on April 11, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on September 4, 2015, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. • J. Makali Bruton was the editor who published this page.