John F. Cook Jr.

John Francis Cook Jr. (1833-January 20, 1910) was a prominent educator, politician, tax collector, businessman, community organizer, civil rights activist, and member of the African-American, Washingtonian elite of the late 19th century. Born into an established, middle-class family in Washington D.C., Cook was believed to be D.C.’s richest black resident in 1895 with a net worth of over two hundred thousand dollars. As a civilian and in government, Cook championed civil rights causes aimed at uplifting D.C.’s black community, mainly through education, community engagement, and political activism. Cook was also a staunch opponent of Jim Crow laws, the Colonization movement, as well as many other causes designed to put African Americans at the fringes of American life.

John Francis Cook Jr. was born in September 1833 to one of Washington D.C.’s most wealthy and distinguished African-American families. His father, John Francis Cook Sr. (1810-1855), a light-skinned black man, was born a slave on a plantation in Pennsylvania. At 16 years old, Cook Sr.’s industrious aunt, Aleitha Tanner, bought he and his family’s freedom for $1,450 and eventually left Cook her estate. Cook Sr. went on to become a prominent figure in Washington D.C.’s social and political scene. Among other things, Cook Sr. lead Union Seminary, a school for black students in D.C., founded the Young Man’s Moral and Literary Society, an antebellum abolitionist debating society for free and enslaved blacks, and co-founded Union Bethel Church. Cook Jr.’s mother, Jane Mann, a woman of Afro-Indian ethnicity, raised six children with Cook Sr. and died of unknown causes in middle age.

Cook Jr. was first educated at Union Seminary while his father was the headmaster. He subsequently attended Oberlin College in Ohio at the age of twenty with his younger brother, George F.T. Cook (1835-1912), from 1853-1855. Cook Jr. and George left Oberlin before finishing their undergraduate studies and returned to D.C. in 1855 at the news of their father’s death.

Upon returning to Washington, D.C. in 1855, Cook became the head of Union Seminary, replacing his late father. Cook led Union Seminary until 1857 when his younger brother, George, succeeded him. Though no longer in charge, Cook remained active in Union Seminary until its closure in 1867, the same year public schools were opened for black children. During that ten-year period, Cook continued teaching, even doing so at a great personal risk. In 1859, he was warned by government officials in D.C. that if he were to continue teaching black students, he would be arrested. This prompted Cook to move to New Orleans where he opened a school for black students and continued to teach. After a few years, however, he caught the attention local authorities and was issued a similar warning. By that time, the threat had subsided in D.C., and Cook returned to embark on a long and illustrious career in politics and activism.

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