One innate characteristic of a sociologist is to observe various elements of societies. Sometimes that observation takes place as an outsider’s perspective, while other times that perspective draws from real-life experience. According to Patricia M. Lengermann and Gillian Niebrugge in The Women Founders (2007), much of sociology’s history has been told from the outsider’s perspective. Although that perspective is crucial, substantial, and credible, it is hard to capture the complete essence of a societal issue when a person has the ability to rely on their comforts, especially when it comes to the topic of oppression. For Anna Julia Cooper and Ida B. Wells-Barnett, however, their personal, insider’s experiences with oppression allowed them to bring that missing puzzle piece to the sociological table, painting a picture unfathomable to any outsider. Derived from different circumstances, places, and experiences, they drew from that perspective to defend their shared goal: finding justice in the madness of oppression.
Oppression took many different forms in the lives of Cooper and Wells-Barnett. In Cooper’s circumstances, she experienced oppression in the forms of discrimination, racism, and sexism. As a student at St. Augustine Normal School and Collegiate Institute, discrimination appeared when male students received funding over the female students, as well as when hurdles were placed for women to take certain classes. In terms of racism, she encountered many instances of literature she denoted as “white racism” (p. 157). Later in life, she received criticism for wrongdoings as a principal of M Street School, where the Director reprimanded her for sympathy, preparation skills, and inappropriate behavior, which cost her the job. Similarly, Wells-Barnett experienced racism, sexism, and injustices across classes from an early age. Beginning from witnessing the assertiveness of white male dominance through an experience with her father, to being personally told to “move to the ‘smoker’” while traveling, to writing about the injustices of lynching in Memphis, the oppression continued throughout her life (p. 152). However, no matter the circumstances, those women continued to fight for what they believed was right: justice.
According to Ida B. Wells in A Red Record (1895):
“The first [excuse] given to the civilized world for the murder of unoffending Negroes was the necessity of the white man to repress and stamp out alleged “race riots.” … It was always a remarkable feature in these insurrections and riots that only Negroes were killed during the rioting, and that all the white men escaped unharmed…” (p. 177).
That instance was one of many that remained the norm for too long. Both Cooper and Wells-Barnett knew that had to change. For Wells-Barnett, that change was to initiate as she took a journalism job first in Memphis, followed by New York, writing about the oppression she had witnessed for years. Similarly, starting in the late nineteenth century, Cooper began public speaking about the issues with oppression and society that not only she, but many others during her time, witnessed firsthand. In her book A Voice from the South (1892), she states:
“… The colored man’s inheritance and apportionment is still the sombre crux, the perplexing cul de sac of the nation… One important witness has not yet been heard from. The summing up of the evidence deposed, and the charge to the jury have been made- but no word from the Black Woman” (p. 184).
Injustice had crept through the cracks of their society, but also ignited a fire fuming their power to set the record straight. That power was derived from their ability to use the courtroom as a metaphor to illuminate their cross-examination approaches. Both women acquired data from which they analyzed to pinpoint true “evidence” (p. 162). For example, Cooper used data from Hippolyte Taine to unveil Anglo-Saxon aggression. The abilities of Cooper and Wells-Barnett to collect data, analyze, and critique it, brought them closer to spreading awareness of the injustices taking place in their society.
Although it would be possible for a non-oppressed sociologist to use the same methodological approaches to reach the same conclusions, not to mention it would also be just as credible and beneficial, the insider’s perspective is crucial to a wholesome understanding. Anna J. Cooper and Ida B. Wells-Barnett placed the accountability of those who created and produced those injustices in the hands of those who read their work, heard them speak, and studied them then or today. Whomever encountered their truth, also encountered the truth of justice.
It is unfair to claim sociologists today do not go to the lengths and efforts that Cooper and Wells-Barnett did to find justice in the madness of oppression, simply because there is an abundance of literature in the field of sociology I am not experienced in or knowledgeable about. However, I believe both Anna J. Cooper and Ida B. Wells-Barnett were admirable sociologists who set an extremely high standard for the lengths that should be taken to achieve true justice.
Source: Lengermann, Patricia M., & Niebrugge, Gillian. 2007. “Anna Julia Cooper and Ida B. Wells-Barnett.” Pp. 149-192 in The Women Founders. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.