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Flora Juliette Cooke | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Flora Juliette Hannum December 25, 1864 |
| Died | February 21, 1953 (aged 88) |
| Occupation | Educator |
| Years active | 1884-1939 |
| Known for | Progressive education and the Francis W. Parker School |
Flora J. Cooke (December 25, 1864 - February 21, 1953) was an American progressive educator. She helped found and was principal of the Francis W. Parker School for 34? years.
Biography[edit]
Flora Juliette Hannum was born December 25, 1864 in Bainbridge Township, Ohio[1] to Rev. Sumner Hannum and Rosetta Ellis Hannum.[2] She was one of six children.[2] Her mother died when she was five and her father put Flora and her siblings up for adoption.[2] Flora was a "headstrong child" and went through six homes in a year.[2] She was finally adopted by her mother's friends Charles Cooke and Luella Miller Cooke of Youngstown, Ohio in 1881.[2]
Cooke was educated in the public schools in Youngstown[1] and graduated high school there in 1884.[2] She immediately began her career teaching in rural schools in the area.[2] From 1885 to 1889 she was teaching at the Hellman Street School in Youngstown, at the end as its principal.[2] At the Hellman Street School she met Zonia Baber, a graduate of the Cook County Normal School (a teacher training school in Chicago).[2] Baber was a disciple of the methods of Francis Wayland Parker of that institution.[2] Baber and Cooke began a lifelong professional association.[2]
In 1889 when Baber was back teaching at Cook County Normal School, Parker invited Cooke to become a student[2] on the suggestion of Baber.[3] After graduation Cooke taught at the institution's practice school, and Parker said she had become "the best primary teacher I ever saw."[2][3] Cooke would spend ten years at the school, and became an evangelist for Parker's methods, eventually speaking in 28 states including Hawaii.[2] She also represented Parker internationally at conferences in Switzerland and Denmark.[2]
When philanthropist Anita McCormick Blaine funded a new private school called the Chicago Institute to serve as a laboratory for Parker's research, Cooke joined him.[2] This eventually became the School of Eduation at the University of Chicago.[2] Blaine also funded the creation of the Francis W. Parker School and Cooke was made its first principal, a position she held until her retirement in 1934.[2]
While at the Parker School, she advanced both Parker's ideas and her own on progressive education.[2] She ensisted on enrolling a diverse student body, hoping the private school would also serve as a model for public education.[2] She defended the rights of students, including one who wrote a pacifist essay during World War I, incurring the wrath of parents.[2] She treated the school as a learning laboratory, and in 1932 agreed for it to participate in the Eight-Year Study, which added to the school's reputation.[2]
After retirement she was a trustee of the Parker school until 1948.[2] She was one of the founders of the North Shore Country Day School and was a founder and trustee of Graduate Teachers College of Winnetka and Roosevelt University in Chicago.[2]
She remained active in her later life, including becoming involved in a "celebrated controversy" with Senator Theodore G. Bilbo over his racially motivated opposition to fair employment legislation.[2][4] She was also a member of liberal organizations including the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the NAACP and the ACLU.[3]
more sources to thread in:[5][6][7]
Her papers and those of the Francis Parker school are held at the Chicago Historical Society.[8] Cooke never married.[3] She died of a heart attack on February 21, 1953.[2]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Downs, Winfield Scott, ed. (1938). "Cooke, Flora Juliette, Educator". Encyclopedia of American Biography: New Series. Vol. 8. American Historical Society. pp. 138–139. OCLC 649569887 – via HathiTrust.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Donatelli, Rosemary V. (1980). "COOKE, Flora Juliette". In Sicherman, Barbara; Green, Carol Hurd (eds.). Notable American Women: The Modern Period: A Biographical Dictionary. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 159–160. ISBN 9780674627338. OCLC 221276972 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d Green, Nancy S. (February 2000) [1999]. "Cooke, Flora Juliette (1864-1953), progressive educator". In Garraty, John A; Carnes, Mark C. (eds.). American National Biography. Vol. 5. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 394–396. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0900195. OCLC 39182280. Retrieved September 5, 2020 – via American National Biography online.
- ^ Kellum, Ronald (Spring–Fall 2008). "Flora Cooke versus Theodore Bilbo: Progressive Educator Challenges Senator over Race Issues in 1945". Schools: Studies in Education. 5 (1/2). University of Chicago Press: 96–117. doi:10.1086/591820.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ Kroepel, Gail L. (2002). "Flora J. Cooke and the Francis W. Parker School". In Sadovnik, Alan R.; Semel, Susan F. (eds.). Founding Mothers and Others: Women Educational Leaders During the Progressive Era. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 125–145. doi:10.1007/978-1-137-05475-3_9. ISBN 9780312295028. OCLC 1004378975 – via Google Books.
- ^ Kellum, Ronald (Spring 2018). "Reflections and Applications: Flora J. Cooke, Educator from Chicago: The Hawaii Session". Vitae Scholasticae. 35 (1). Caddo Gap Press.
- ^ Potter, Robert E. (1990). "The Evolution of Summer Sessions for Teachers in Hawai'i" (PDF). Educational Perspectives. 27 (2). College of Education, University of Hawaii: 26–33. hdl:10125/47087. ISSN 0013-1849.
{{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ "Francis W. Parker School records and Flora J. Cooke papers [manuscript], 1884-1960". Chicago Collections. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
External links[edit]