User:Catason/Annie Lee Cooper

Avari Minor Edit


 * 1) Addition to lead section:

Annie Lee Wilkerson Cooper (born Annie Lee Wilkerson; June 2, 1910 – November 24, 2010) was an African-American civil rights activist. She is best known for punching Dallas County, Alabama Sheriff Jim Clark in the face during the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches.[1][2] Cooper's lasting legacy is recognized as her activism in the Selma Voting Rights Marches and her role as a female leader in the civil rights movement.

2. In the 1940s, Cooper owned a restaurant in Pennsylvania. A white man who wanted to lease and sanction off part of Cooper's building asked that she segregate her seating, but she refused and revoked the sublease. Her restaurant was amongst the only in town that were non-discriminatory, leading to her refusal to sanction it based on race.

3. Add Later Years subsection:

On June 2, 2010, Annie Lee Cooper became a centenarian. Reflecting on her longevity, she stated, "My mother lived to be 106, so maybe I can live that long, too." On November 24, 2010, Cooper died of natural causes in the Vaughan Regional Medical Center in Selma, Alabama.

4. She then worked as a clerk at the Torch Motel. (added source)

5. Cooper was then arrested and charged with criminal provocation. She was held in jail for 11 hours before the sheriff's deputies dropped the charges and released her, hastened to protect her from being attacked by Clark upon his return to prison. Cooper spent the period of her incarceration singing spirituals. Some in the sheriff's department wanted to charge her with attempted murder, and she was let go. Following this incident, Cooper became a registered voter in Alabama.

Avari Major Edits

Annie Lee Cooper played a monumental role in the lead up to Voting Rights Act of 1965. Proceeding her incident with Jim Clark, she was immediately recognized for her courage. Black people throughout Selma celebrated Cooper's ability to advocate for herself and fight for her vote. Her incident, as well as Bloody Sunday, which occurred six weeks after Cooper's encounter with Clark, were critical steps in passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which created mechanisms to prevent racial voter suppression.

In modern media, such as the film Selma, more light is shone on Annie Lee Cooper and her influential role as a woman during the Civil Rights Movement. In contrast to media that has been published in the past about Cooper, which displays her as the initial attacker of Jim Clark, this film works to accurately depict her legacy and displays her as a hero and promoter of equality. This film offers an alternative perspective of her encounter with Clark and serves to better reflect Cooper and her fight for voting rights in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement.

Catherine major edits

Annie Lee Cooper was a civil rights activist who believed that the collective effort of the black community could change the laws made to segregate them. She helped mostly with the voting rights in Selma and helped many African Americans register to vote. Though she was a key player in the voting rights movement, her efforts were often relegated to the background because of her gender. She was very misrepresented in the media, especially newspapers, who often presented her as an "aggressor." Some popular headlines in newspapers such as the Lodi News Sentinel would be  "Selma Sheriff Slugged by Hefty Negro Woman."

Annie Lee Cooper was one of the few people in Selma who became fed up with the restrictions placed on the voting rights of African Americans and was willing to do something about it. Attempting to vote five times, she was one of the few who was brave enough to hold their own against the consequences that came with their attempts to vote. She lived in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Ohio and was then allowed to vote there. Her incident with Jim Clark arose in Selma where voting rights were still being restricted. Jim Clark, a local sheriff, was confronted by Cooper when she tried to defend a man who was attempting to register from being kicked by the police. Even though she retaliated with violence and she was involved with a non-violent organization, her act later was seen as having a true "Selma Spirit."

Minor Edit


 * 1) In the movie Selma, Annie Lee Cooper is shown to be a key player in the civil rights  movement but was still not able to capture her full experience with the movement. Even though she had representation in the film, it did not shed light on the issues she was trying to solve with the movement but mostly her incident with Jim Clark.
 * 2) Even though Cooper was able to register to vote, she had lost that right upon returning to Selma. She had also failed to get employment after she was fired from her white-owned establishment when her employer realized she was trying to get her colleagues to also join in.
 * 3) Also, in the movie Selma, Cooper could be seen trying to defend her son from being brutalized by the police during a demonstration which showed that not only was the movement dangerous to all blacks, it was even more harsh on women. The SCLC were not, however, thrilled with the fact that she resorted to violence in doing so but empathized with her because she was just trying to shield her son.
 * 4) In 1962, Cooper returned to Selma to care for her sick mother. She later attempted to vote in Selma, but was told she failed the literacy test. Upon being denied to register to vote in Alabama, Cooper began to participate in the civil rights movement. Cooper's attempt to register to vote in 1963 resulted in her being fired from her job as a nurse at a rest home which was a White-owned rest home known as the Dunn Rest home. . She then worked as a clerk at the Torch Motel after a very difficult search because of her affiliation to the march.
 * 5) In the 2014 film Selma, Cooper was portrayed by Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey said that she took the role "because of the magnificence of Annie Lee Cooper and what her courage meant to an entire movement." This movie also highlights not only the struggles and success of Annie Lee Cooper, but of other Black women such as Coretta Scott King, Diane Nash and Amelia Boynton Robinson who played very important roles in the civil rights movement.