Omar Montoya
3-31-10
English 517
Essay 1
The status of women in the home: A review of Anna Julia Cooper’s A Vital Element in the
Regeneration and Progress of a Race
For nearly 70 years, Anna Julia Cooper, a black female author, wrote on the status of
women in America and the intellectual and social progress of African Americans in the United
States. A response to the burgeoning acknowledgment of African Americans as a free people,
Cooper’s work serves as a reflection on world politics, race, sex, and slavery throughout the
early 20th century. In evaluating the progress of the African American race since the
Emancipation Proclamation, Cooper suggests in her piece A Vital Element in the Regeneration
and Progress of a Race, that women are intrinsically linked to the future progress of African
Americans at home and at work. Calling for a return to traditional Catholic Christian ideals at
home, Cooper iterates that women must act as the moral center of the home, providing
structure, regulation, education, and morality to her people, first enacting change and progress
within the home then outside. Bridging the gap between first and second wave feminist
ideology, Cooper argues that although women remain in the home (not by force or out of
service) they are not to be undervalued or underestimated, for their contribution to the
advancement of the race outside the “cult of domesticity” is integral and a necessity, “the
fundamental basis for hope chiefly residing on [them] and [their] influence within the home”
(Cooper, 55).
According to Cooper, “you may judge a nation’s rank in the scale of civilization from the
way that they treat their women” (Cooper, 55) a most high regard for them, a prolific idea that
she suggests was first ingrained into European civilization by the Catholic Church and the feudal
system; the habits of life and modes of thought which both gave rise to chivalry, “that which no
other institution has more sensibly magnified and elevated woman’s position in society”
(Cooper, 55). Dwelling on the tender regard women were entertained by the rugged barbarians
of Europe before they left their homes to overrun the country, Cooper suggests that a love and
veneration for their (women’s) pure and noble influence charmed the barbaric nature of men
from completely plundering and pillaging all. For Cooper, Catholicism and chivalry merely gave
a roseate glow to the barbarism that was occurring outside the home, and what she fails to
recognize is that the respect for the women she alludes too, heralded by the feudal system, was
only reserved for a select few, and for those lower on the typical hierarchical caste system,
those conquered and killed in the name of God by chivalrous men, merely suffered the unlovely
commonplace that was often reserved for slaves and or property.
Historically basing her claim upon the gradual progression of Catholic Christian ideals
juxtaposed against the feudal system, Cooper espouses that the advent of Catholicism has
venerated women, tenderly regarding them as equals, cherishing them for their pure and noble
influence in the home—the wife, the sister, the mother, all valued by Christ, because it was he,
who on his dying bequest signified the protection and tender regard for his sorrowing mother
and afterward to the sex that she represented “throughout his life [he] has given to men a rule
and a guide for the estimation of women as an equal, as a helper, as a friend, and as a sacred
charge to be sheltered and cared for with a brother’s love and sympathy” (Cooper, 57); forever
materially fostering and magnifying her position in society. Arguing that women have been
ordained a special place in the home, according to God, venerated, and to be respected, Cooper
contradicts herself by inferring that while at the same time woman are to be cherished, they
can only truly “teach” and control the house by using other means of influence.
Contrasting her historical representations of woman as revered, honored, meek and
cared for, she offers no explanation for the dichotomy she creates in portraying women as the
seducer and tamer “dazzling men by gorgeous spectacle…she [can] not capture him by physical
force…next she only [takes] advantage of the barbarians sensuous love of gaudy display by
putting all her magnificent garments on” (Cooper, 58). Suggesting that women are to be
revered, while at the same time respected for their ability to control, no matter the measure or
circumstance, suggests that the holy honor and regard of the vitalizing principle of a women’s
development and amelioration is not formulaic or as innocent as Cooper suggests, but rather
perfected in a culture who would use Christianity and chivalry as their estimation for society,
enforcing diplomacy and social rule, so as far as that the church is coincident with the progress
of a race and or culture.
Now it seems not too much to say then that of the burgeoning sentiment of first wave
feminist ideology that was occurring when Cooper wrote her piece; the call for women to be
respected in and out of the home, that they did not need the protection and care of their male
brethren, but were capable on their own, that Cooper bridges the gap between the progress of
first wave feminism and second wave feminism by rhetorically juxtaposing her claim that
women were to be cared for and protected while at the same time venerated and given equal
right and equal representation within the home, “regardless of her rank, wealth, or culture,
[she] today remains the estimation of her race, the helper and the friend” (Cooper, 56), against
a later second wave ideology which argued that women were independent, capable of making
their own way outside the home; a necessary occurrence Cooper suggests in making “gigantic
strides in the knowledge of arts, and sciences, social and ethical principles which vitalize and
regenerate her people” (Cooper, 56-57).
Now this is not to say that women are better, wiser, or stronger than man, but that
according to Cooper, it is “women who must first form the man and home by directing the
earliest impulses of their character” (Cooper, 59). Comparing nations destitute of this “female”
force with other nations among whom the influence of women is prominent, evidence would
suggest that the position of women within society determines the vital elements of progress for
that society, “to trifle with it, to ignore or misuse it, is to treat lightly the most sacred and
solemn trust confided by God to humankind” (Cooper, 59). For Cooper, the training of children
and men is a task on which an infinite of possibilities is available; through her she provides
morality and balance to society and a civilization, reinforcing the good or evil elements of the
world. With the facts of women’s influence on society outlined as such by Cooper, what then
are the practical bearings on the work and agency of the woman in the regeneration and
progress of a race? Is it merely the estimation to lead and direct the home and children for the
honor and glory of God and their salvation? Be as it may the failures and achievements of a
race, a woman’s influence on a home cannot be measured in the success or failure of the
indoctrination of her home and family. What of the possible existence of the “other” woman,
that which does not suggest or believe the underpinnings for social progress and change are
founded upon Christian Catholic fundamentals? What of a single woman, a woman with no
children, a lesbian woman? Are they refuted the responsibility of educating the future
generations of the race, merely because they do not espouse to the fundamental Christian
ideals that Cooper posits? Clearly basing her claim on the sole advent of Catholicism with the
home and residing all responsibility on the singular definition of a woman that Cooper portrays,
offers little for the true progress of second wave feminist ideology, and suffice it to say, this is
the reason that Cooper unsuccessfully positions her work within the framework of the second
wave movement is her failure to offer no comparative depiction of woman she portrays, only
she, relinquishing total control to Gods will can evoke progress.
According to Cooper, true progress is never made by spasms, but real progress is
growth. It must first begin with a seed, a woman, “to encourage and inspire us in the
advancement of individuals” (Cooper, 61). It is well enough to pause for a moment for
retrospection, introspection, and prospection, to look back and not become inflated with the
conceit of the depths from which the African American race has risen, but as Cooper would
suggest, to learn wisdom from experience, “to gather together our forces, and by improved and
more practical methods, address ourselves [women] the task of guiding and directing [our]
children” (Cooper, 62) and surveying the “failures or achievements of the past, the difficulties
and embarrassments of the present, and the mingled hopes and fears for the future” (Cooper,
61). The fundamental agency under God in the regeneration and retraining of the race for
Cooper must be the woman. With all the neglects of her past, with all the weakness and
debasement that she has suffered, she must stand mute and firm against the thralls of
impending social change, for a race cannot be purified from without. Preachers, teachers, and
women are the stimulants of the race and provide the conditions necessary for growth
according to Cooper. Whatever the attainments of the individual or race may be, unless the
home is properly “balanced” by the woman—ordained by God, it can never be regarded with or
representative of the whole; that whole which is the undisputed dignity of the woman,
according to Cooper, the character of all the parts, a women, that which she makes whole.
In resisting a counterclaim to suggest that perhaps women do not embrace their “cult of
domesticity” Cooper fails to recognize that what she is truly arguing is a counterclaim to the
progressive ideals of feminist ideology. Instead she argues that women, although not forced
too, should reside in the home, because it is their inherent, an ordained responsibility to
provide morality and balance to their home and children. Not fully embracing firs wave
ideology, Cooper does suggest that women be venerated within the home, and that it is their
responsibility to go out and educate the “children,” but she fails to truly offer any progressive
ideology that suggests the potential for a woman to remain permanently outside the home. Her
claim would suggest that although not forced, the proper place for a woman is the home. She
can venture outside the home, but only for the task that she has been ordained for, and
nothing else, offering no alternative to a life of servitude, and moral responsibility to influence
society.
When the progressive influence of womanhood on civilization today fails, Cooper
suggests it is not because of the failure of the female charge and intention to spread morality
and truth, but rather because of the false influence of the “white man’s” Christianity on her
people. All other religions other than Catholicism are a product and not a growth, according to
Cooper, and it is because of their need to address themselves to the needs of a civilization and
people that they become corrupt, incapable of shaping a civilization for the future. Because the
white man does not welcome the advancement of the African American he falsely preaches the
subjugation of the race and women in the churches he has founded. The “trimming policy” of
the Church in the South is both presumptuous and ungrateful, mortifying according to Cooper,
because the benevolent wisdom of God has been latently executed, antagonistically halting the
progress of the African American in the South. The evangelization of these people is not based
on the religious awakening of the holy Catholic communion, but rather based upon a perpetual
religion carefully crafted by the white man for the sustainability of a slave caste system. All
other religions other than Catholicism are a product, designed to provide a means of service
and salvation, intended to spur the growth of that particular religion. Ironically, it is this very
claim that counters Cooper’s suggestion that Catholicism is the only “true” religion, because
just as other religions, Catholicism offers a product served, a means for assimilation based upon
the agenda of those at the head of the church. In other words, the Catholic church offers
nothing different, nothing truer than other religions, because it is merely emulating or being
emulated to preach a gospel believed as fact (all other religions offer the same claim, and offer
the same preaching, that they are the one “true” religion, and all others false).
To return, however, to a less broad “false” view of Christianity, Cooper suggests that it is
necessary for women to become church trained (officially, or simply self indoctrinated) for the
protection and uplifting of the race. The denomination that must espouse the proverbial
emotionalism of “Negro” worship in the South, must be the Catholic Church, having already
established industrial and training schools in every community in the South, enriching and
infusing “vigorous young hearts, healthy heads, and helpful hands” (Cooper, 69) for the
advancement of the African American race. For Cooper, true advancement of the race will only
occur when Catholic traditions are embraced, not these “false” religions, and when woman are
truly venerated for their guidance and direction, thought of as equals, and allowed to
progressively father the principles of education and morality in and out of the home.
Grappling with this claim, what Cooper’s ideology fails to acknowledge is the availability
or exposure to any alternative interpretations of the Christian (Catholic) doctrine, simply
equating only Catholicism with her idea of “true” religion, Cooper offers no illumination for her
biased resentment for all other religions other than Catholicism, equating them merely with the
continual progression of the white man’s hold upon the African American Race. Providing no
evidence to support her claim, she seemingly assumes that ordained by God, the historical
advent of Catholicism and chivalry has only fostered the progression of the African American
race, and offers no evidence to suggest the Church historically has espoused the advent of
crusades, mitigated the white mans control over the African American race, controlling them
and subjugating them to rule, merely because it has been ordained by Gods will.
Clearly Cooper’s work as canonical inclusion in the works of feminist ideology is
warranted, so far as that woman emulate the particular portrayal of the woman she depicts.
Offering no alternative to the contrary, a woman who does not fit within the parameters
prescribed cannot be truly successful in the advancement and progress of her race, because she
does not laud the hold the ordained role of a woman as defined by God; a God that only serves
within the Catholic tradition and does not exist outside the confines of the traditional
matriarchic that defines the role of women Cooper suggests. Carefully traipsing the lines
between progressive feminist ideology and the more traditional “cult of domesticity”
portrayed, Cooper fails to offer a truly progressive poignant claim which would suggest that the
nature and role of the woman is a necessity for the advancement of the African American race.
Bibliography
Cooper, Anna Julia. "Womanhood: A Vital Element in the Regeneration and Progress of a Race."
Cooper, Anna Julia. The Voice of Anna Julia Cooper. Lanham, MD: Rowan and Littlefield
Publishers, 1998. 53-71.