A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South

The early-19th-century sentiment of women’s education was that it would diminish their femininity and womanhood. American universities were gradually admitting women in ladies’ courses. For Cooper, women had long been waiting to join the forces of the world. Women could have a positive impact on the world with their kind and loving nature. She notes that equality between women and men would benefit society, as the peace of women’s souls would meet the righteousness of men’s ideals. The growing education of women promised higher civilization standards for the 20th century. All aspects of culture needed the feminine force.

Cooper stresses that masculinity and femininity complement each other and form humanity as a whole. Women’s development through education would benefit and contribute to the world. However, she notes that few women at the time have the privilege of education, and even they are discouraged to pursue their abilities. Throughout history, men were made to believe that self-development was their exclusive right and that education would be destructive for traditional womanhood. For Cooper, those ideas belong to the past, and society should reconsider “the entire question of the relation between the sexes” (40). For Cooper, higher education and intellectual growth would also benefit women’s personal and domestic lives.