At a time when most of the public discourse was dominated by men, Anna Julia Cooper's writings offered a blistering rebuke to that status quo. The essays and speeches collected here anticipated the debates about racism, sexism, and intersectionality that we are still having today. Cooper argues in particular for the importance of Black women's participation in identifying and combating the structures of oppression that surrounded them - and that made life so much more difficult for many other groups as well. In arguing for women's central role in the fight for human progress, Cooper delivered a seminal work of the Black feminist movement.

With wit, urgency, and a thoroughly modern tone, Cooper's work brought important new ideas into the cultural discourse and helped set that conversation on a better, more inclusive path.

Revised edition: Previously published as A Voice from the South, this edition of A Voice from the South (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.