Brittney Cooper
Brittney Cooper
Full Name and Common Aliases
Brittney Cooper is a prominent American academic, writer, and feminist scholar who goes by her full name.
Birth and Death Dates
Born on June 4, 1978, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. No information is available about her passing date, as she is still alive.
Nationality and Profession(s)
Cooper's nationality is American, and she identifies as a Black feminist scholar, writer, and academic. Her primary profession is that of an academic, with expertise in Women's Studies, Africana Studies, and English Literature.
Early Life and Background
Brittney Cooper grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where her love for learning began at a young age. She attended the prestigious Philadelphia High School for Girls, which laid the foundation for her future academic pursuits. After high school, she enrolled in Temple University to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Africana Studies.
Major Accomplishments
Cooper's academic journey led her to earn a Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania, where she focused on 20th-century American literature with an emphasis on Black feminist theory. Her groundbreaking work earned her recognition as a leading scholar in her field. Some of her notable achievements include:
Prolific Author: Cooper is the author of several critically acclaimed books, including "Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women," "Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower," and "The End of Polite Knowledge: Rethinking American Literature from Hannah Webster Foster to Sylvia Plath."
Academic Leadership: Cooper has held various academic positions, including being a Professor of Women's Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently a Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, Africana Studies, and English at Rutgers University.
Feminist Activism: As an outspoken advocate for Black feminism, Cooper has been involved in several initiatives to promote intersectional feminist scholarship and activism.Notable Works or Actions
Some of her notable works include:
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower (2018): This book is a memoir that explores the power of rage and resilience as a Black woman.
* The End of Polite Knowledge: Rethinking American Literature from Hannah Webster Foster to Sylvia Plath (2021): In this work, Cooper reexamines the literary canon through an intersectional lens.
Impact and Legacy
Brittney Cooper's impact on feminist scholarship is undeniable. Her work challenges traditional narratives and offers a fresh perspective on American literature and culture. As a prominent voice in the academic community, she continues to inspire new generations of scholars and activists.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
Cooper's commitment to intersectional feminism and her ability to blend scholarship with activism have made her a celebrated figure in the academic world. Her quotes and writings are widely sought after for their insight into issues of racism, sexism, and social justice.
Brittney Cooper is an inspiration to many due to her unwavering dedication to promoting inclusive knowledge production and challenging dominant narratives.
Quotes by Brittney Cooper
In other words, white fears rest on the presumption that they are rooted in fact; everyone who is nonwhite is treated as though their fears are the stuff of fantasy.
According to several years of reports by the Violence Policy Center, in this, the second decade of the twenty-first century, eight Black women per week, more than one per day, are murdered, usually with guns, and usually by a Black male they know. More than one thousand women of all races are murdered each year, in similar incidents, usually by men of their own race. It has been said before, but it is worth saying again: Toxic masculinity kills.
This doesn’t mean I’m never afraid. Being never scared has a cultural inflection to it that is about defiance, and about a refusal to be cowed into submission. To be black is to know you are being watched – at all times – anyway.
Before we fully learn to love ourselves, all people of color in the United States learn that we are supporting characters and spectators in the collective story of white people’s lives.
The truth is that Angry Black Women are looked upon as entities to be contained, as inconvenient citizens who keep on talking about their rights while refusing to do their duty and smile at everyone.
Voting once or even twice for a Black man is not enough to undo years of anti-Black social conditioning. Fear and feelings, especially about racism, have to be managed constantly.
When Bill Clinton signed the 1994 crime bill into law, effecting policy at the federal level, it created a ferment of tough-on-crime policies in forty-five states. The crime bill also funded massive increases in police officers across the country. Most striking were laws that allowed juveniles to be tried as adults for violent crimes, and laws that allowed juvenile offenders to receive automatic life sentences for certain crimes.
The lie we are told is that white rage and white fear are honest emotions that preserve the integrity of American democracy. More often than not, we keep learning that white rage and white fear are dishonest impulses that lead us toward fascism. White rage and white fear are reactions to perceptions among white people that their power might be slipping away.
White privilege works by making the advantages white people have invisible while making the supposedly ‘poor’ choices of people of color hypervisible.
Loving Black girls is complicated, but loving oneself in a world where there is always someone ready to do you harm is even harder.