... [a] girl one day flared out and told the principal "the only mission opening before a girl in his school was to marry one of those candidates [for the ministry]." He said he didn't know but it was. And when at last that same girl announced her desire and intention to go to college it was received with about the same incredulity and dismay as if a brass button on one of those candidate's coats had propounded a new method for squaring the circle or trisecting the arc.
Anna Julia CooperBullies are always cowards at heart and may be credited with a pretty safe instinct in scenting their prey.
Anna Julia CooperTeach [our girls] that there is a race with special needs which they and only they can help; that the world needs and is already asking for their trained, efficient forces.
Anna Julia CooperOne needs occasionally to stand aside from the hum and rush of human interests and passions to hear the voices of God.
Anna Julia CooperI care not for the theoretical symmetry and impregnable logic of your moral code, I care not for the hoary respectability and traditional mysticisms of your theological institutions, I care not for the beauty and solemnity of your rituals and religious ceremonies, I care not even for the reasonableness and unimpeachable fairness of your social ethics,--if it does not turn out better, nobler, truer, men and women,--if it does not add to the world's stock of valuable souls,--if it does not give us a sounder, healthier, more reliable product from this great factory of men--I will have none of it.
Anna Julia Cooper