Ada A. Cooper
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Ada Augusta Newton Harris Cooper (1861–1899) was a 19th-century Black American teacher and writer. Despite humble beginnings, she became a noted orator, giving talks in AME churches around the country,[1] often advocating for women's education and rights.[2][3] She was also a musician of some note.[4][5]
Ada Augusta Newton was born on 6 February 1861 in Brooklyn, New York.[6] She is the daughter of Olivia Hamilton Newton[1] and Rev. Alexander H. Newton, an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church minister.[6] Her grandfather, Robert Hamilton, was a noted abolitionist.[6] Newton's mother died when she was 7 and she went to live with her grandmother.[1][6] When she was 15, she wrote the story "The Bride of Death" and moved to Little Rock, Arkansas to live again with her father.[6]
When she was 17, Newton enrolled in Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.[6][1] She attended for 3 years but did not graduate.[1] At Shaw, she taught reading classes in return for fees.[1]
Career
When Newton was 18, her story, "The Bride of Death," was published in the North Carolina Republican.[6][1]
Newton taught in Hayward, Raleigh[6] and Washington, North Carolina.[1] In Raleigh, she also edited the woman's column in the local Outlook newspaper.[6][1] In 1890, she became sick and moved to Maryland.[1] After she recovered, she took a job as a travelling salesman.[1]
Newton lectured in various AME churches around the country,[1] particularly advocating for women's education and rights.[2][3] She was selected to deliver poems on 1 January 1881 in celebration of emancipation.[7][8]
In 1891, she also gave a notable speech at the North Carolina Industrial Fair as part of an Interstate Exposition[6][1] entitled "Our Women: The Party they Play."[9]