Dates

• Existence: 1900 - 1997

Biography

Cecile Cooper was born in Trenton, Missouri, on April 15, 1900. She attended Walker's Beauty Academy in Chicago. She later worked as a hairdresser in the Quad Cities area and resided in Davenport, Iowa. She was a member of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Davenport. From the 1950s to 1970s, Cooper was active in over thirty secular and church-related volunteer organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the League of Women Voters, the Iowa and Quad Cities Human Rights Council, the Democratic Party and the Catholic Interracial Council. She was the founder of the Quad City Negro Heritage Society.

In 1960, she traveled with other volunteers to take food and clothing to the Mississippi Delta. Cooper also organized local support in the mid-1960s to aid civil rights efforts in Mississippi, including the Freedom Schools.

In 1978, Cooper was presented with the local Diana Award for her volunteer efforts and won third place in the National Diana Award competition. In this same year, she moved to a retirement home in Coralville, Iowa. In 1986, she moved back to Davenport.

Cecile Cooper died on May 25, 1997 in Davenport, Iowa.

Found in 1 Collection or Record: