Los Angeles herald., 1906-01-22
NEGRESS EXPLAINS HER
VIEWS OF HIGH SOCIETY
EDUCATED, BECOMES PLAINTIFF
IN UNIQUE SUIT
Denied Ticket on Around-the- World
Excursion Because Of Her Color,
She Sues for S1o,ooo-cIaims to
Move In High Social Circles

Special to Tho Herald.
NEW YORK, Jan. 21.-What col
ored woman thinks of society in gen.
eral and Washington society in par
ticular is n part of the record in a case
now pending in the New York courts.
Mrs. Anna ]. Cooper is the negress
in question. She is a graduate Of
Oberlin college and assistant principal
of the Washington high school. She
lives at 1706 Seventeenth street, Wash
ington, d. G.
Some time ago. Mrs. Cooper, through
the influence of Mrs. Beulah Ray
Penny, wife of Prof. Penny of the
Kansas state university, signed an ap-
plication for membership in an around
the world excursion managed by
Frank G.. Clark of New York She
paid her deposit and received reply
from Clark, who wrote:
I'VE should be glad indeed if you
decide to go with us. We can assure
you a delightful trip
Color Bars Her Out
Three days later Clark learned that
Mrs. Cooper was a negress and there
fore returned her money and denied
her application to join the excursion.
Mrs. Cooper thereupon sued Clark fol
$4,000 damages and then engaged pas
sage to Europe on her own account.
She tagged the Clark party around
Europe, visiting the places they visited,
and paying her way with $500 worth
Of travel tickets she had bought from
another excursion firm in New York,
but she missed, as she explains on the
stand, the valuable educational fea-
lures in the shape of the lectures of
the guides that took part in the eX-
cursion.
In the explanation for her demand for
damages, based on an alleged breach
of contract, Mrs. Cooper declared:
"As a woman of education and re-
finement l suffered considerable indig-
nifty and modification when the fact
became known among my friends in
Washington that I was not to be a
member of the Clark tour. and that my
deposit had been returned"
Her Views of Society
Are you in good standing in Wash
ngton society?" Mrs. Cooper was asked
on cross examination.
II think l am; L claim to be-" was
her answer.
You know what good society in
Washington means-that it consists ex-
clusively of the president and his cabi-
net, the supreme court, the senators,
a few representatives, the army and
the navy-do you not ?" continued Alex
ander S. Bacon, who represented Clark
in the trial, "and that outside of those
few nobody can get into it-isn't that
fact?"
This is democratic America We
believe in America that a man is a
man." replied Mrs. Cooper.
But we are speaking of aristocratic
Washington" interposed Mr.. Bacon.
Society and Intelligence
"And when we speak of good So
ciety,'' retorted Mrs. Cooper, I'VE
understand by that people in good
standing in the community and people
of good character"
"It is not a fact" Mr.. Bacon asked,
that society means something more
than good moral character and intelli-
gence, and that people in the highest
society do not always have the best
intelligence"
well, I do not suppose L know how
much of this may be material to the
point The term society is used in
different senses by different people;
but in my own society I feel my stand
ing in the community is a part of my
working capital as a teacher; just as
the insignia of office of a judge, for
instance, may be to him and to the
community, so my status in the society
in which l move represents to me
part of, as might say, my working
capital"
Mrs. Cooper said she numbered many
white persons among her friends in
Washington and elsewhere, although
O. majority of her friends are colored.
Mrs. Cooper was then examined as
to the details of her trip to prove her
exact expenses. AS 10 legal contract
had been proven the suit was dis
missed.