Cooper delivered a major address at the World's Congress of Representative Women in Chicago, championing Black women's intellectual advancement.
On March 1, 1893, Anna Julia Cooper delivered her address "The Intellectual Progress of the Colored Women in the United States Since Emancipation" before the World's Congress of Representative Women, held in conjunction with the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
This speech was a pivotal moment in Cooper's public career, as she stood before an international audience to articulate the specific struggles and achievements of Black women in America since the end of slavery, just three decades prior. She emphasized both the progress made in education and the persistent barriers of racism and sexism that Black women uniquely faced, a framework that would later be recognized as an early articulation of intersectionality.
The address built upon themes Cooper had already explored in her seminal 1892 book A Voice from the South, reinforcing her reputation as one of the foremost Black feminist intellectuals of her generation. Her presence at such a prominent, largely white-dominated international forum was itself a significant achievement, challenging prevailing assumptions about Black women's intellectual capacities.
This speech is remembered today as a foundational text in Black feminist thought, cited by scholars studying the intersections of race and gender in 19th-century American reform movements. It cemented Cooper's legacy as a pioneering voice who insisted that the advancement of Black women was central, not peripheral, to American progress and democracy.