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