Anna Julia Cooper Workshop in Black History

"It is not the intelligent woman v. the ignorant woman; nor the white woman v. the black, the brown, and the red, it is not even the cause of woman v. man. Nay, tis woman's strongest vindication for speaking that the world needs to hear her voice." - Anna Julia Cooper

The Anna Julia Cooper Workshop in Black History (The Cooper Workshop) features scholars from various disciplines researching and writing on Black history in the United States and the world. Cooper was the first African American woman to earn a PhD in History. She taught and mentored scores of students in DC and made invaluable contributions to Black intellectual life.

The Cooper Workshop features scholars from various disciplines researching and writing on Black history in the US and the world. We use “Black” to embrace the expansiveness of African America and attend to the long tradition of Black internationalism. With the conviction that “all knowledge is incremental and collective,” as David Levering Lewis once wrote, the Workshop aims to foster a supportive space for the engagement and production of innovative scholarship in African American history.

As a works-in-progress series, we discuss pre-circulated, unpublished papers. The Cooper Workshop draws an interdisciplinary community from the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area with expertise in a wide reach of the field. We host six sessions per academic year. Papers will be circulated seven days in advance of the workshop.

For the 2023-24 academic year, the workshop will meet via Zoom on Thursdays, 4:00-5:30 p.m., ET. To join the listserv, email Lily Rodriguez, coordinator rodrig10@umd.edu, or Quincy Mills, convener, qtmills@umd.edu

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Fall 2023

September 15, 4:00 p.m. in person and on Zoom

Justin Iverson, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing Historian, Langley Air Force Base

Breakers and Bloodhounds: Environmental Knowledge of Water and Dogs in the Second Maroon War in Jamaica, 1795-1796

October 26, 4:00 p.m. via Zoom

Sharika Crawford, Professor of History, US Naval Academy

The Lions in Africa: Lincoln University Alumni in Kwame Nkrumah's Ghana, 1951-1966

November 16, 4:00 p.m. via Zoom

Marne Campbell, Associate Professor of African American Studies, Loyola Marymount University

California and the Need for Reparations for Slavery

Spring 2024

Thursday, Feb 22, 4:00 p.m. via Zoom (CANCELED)

Nathan Connolly, Associate Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University

The Political Economy of Mom

Thursday, Mar 28, 4:00 p.m. via Zoom

Brandi Brimmer, Associate Professor, Department of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The Other Frederick Douglass

Thursday, Apr 25, 4:00 p.m. via Zoom

Quincy Mills, Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland, College Park

Cooperative Economies Born of Struggle

The Cooper Workshop will host graduate student writing retreats during the 2023-24 academic year. These day-long retreats are intended for graduate students working in Black history and adjacent fields of study. Each retreat will provide participants with structured writing time and an opportunity to engage with their peers.

Session I: October 13, 2023 9 am - 5 pm

Session II: March 1, 2024 9 am - 5 pm.

Further details to be announced

A Rainbow Rebellion

Apr. 28, 2023

“Delivered to Plunder”: Emperor Dessalines’ Siege against the Enslavement Proclamation of 1805

Mar. 31, 2023

“We’re talking about the survival of society”: Institutional Racism as the Origins of Black Power and the OPHR

Feb. 24, 2023

Prizefighting, Boxing, and the Rise of Print Media

Nov. 28, 2022

“By the Dexterous Use of Their Hatpins”: Black Women in the New York Garment Industry, 1900-1950