Marvel Cooke

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Marvel Cooke (April 4, 1903 – November 29, 2000) was an American journalist, writer, and civil rights activist. She became the first African‑American woman to work at a mainstream white‑owned newspaper and used her reporting to shed light on racial injustice and workers’ rights.

Early life and education
Marvel Jackson was born in Mankato, Minnesota—the first Black child born there. Her parents were Madison and Amy Jackson. Her father had graduated from Ohio State University’s law school and was a pioneer Black lawyer; her mother had worked on a Native American reservation before becoming a full‑time homemaker. Marvel grew up in an affluent, mostly white neighborhood in Minneapolis, where she and her family faced racism. Schools desegregated during her youth, and she witnessed discrimination, including slurs from a favorite teacher and a friend who rejected her because of her race.

In 1921 she entered the University of Minnesota, where only a few Black women were enrolled. She helped start an Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter on campus and later qualified for a government translation job during the War Department, though she was initially passed over for a white staffer. After assistance from Senator Henrik Shipstead, she was reassigned to the translation department. She graduated in 1925 with a degree in English.

Career beginnings and rise in journalism
Cooke moved to New York City in 1926 to work with W. E. B. Du Bois at The Crisis, the NAACP magazine. Although she had no journalism training, Du Bois quickly recognized her talent and placed her in charge of a column called “In the Magazines” and helped plan the magazine’s layout. Through Du Bois, she connected with many leading Black writers and artists. She also briefly considered an engagement to Roy Wilkins, which she ended, finding him too conservative.

In 1927 she joined the New York Amsterdam News as its first woman reporter in the paper’s forty‑year history. In 1929 she married Cecil Cooke, a Columbia University graduate and sprinter, and the couple moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, where Marvel taught history, English, and Latin at North Carolina A&T State University. Returning to New York in 1931, she helped establish the newspaper Guild chapter in the city and took part in a lengthy strike when editorial workers were locked out. She left the Amsterdam News in 1940, unhappy with sensational crime reporting and the paper’s sensational tone.

Mainstream journalism and investigative reporting
In 1950 Cooke became the Daily Compass’s first African‑American woman reporter at a major white‑owned newspaper. Her early pieces included “Occupation: Streetwalker” and an investigation into Black children’s drug use, “From Candy to Heroin.” The Daily Compass also published her five‑part series, “The Bronx Slave Market,” which exposed how Black domestic workers were exploited by white employers who paid far less than state standards and manipulated time clocks to steal hours. The series and a Mayoral editorial response helped spur reforms and training programs for domestic workers, as well as calls for fair wages.

Cooke remained with the Daily Compass until it closed in 1952. She later continued to write and advocate for civil rights and labor rights, remaining active in journalism and social causes.

Activism and later work
In the 1930s Cooke helped launch a New York City chapter of the Newspaper Guild and participated in strike actions. She joined the Communist Party in 1936 after being encouraged by fellow journalist Benjamin J. Davis, a move she pursued despite potential job losses. She also formed a writers’ group that included Richard Wright and supported Black authors.

In 1953 Cooke served as New York director of the National Council of Arts, Sciences and Professions, an organization that brought together artists, scientists, and professionals for political unity. Facing McCarthyism, she invoked the Fifth Amendment when called to testify about her Communist Party involvement.

In later years she worked with Angela Davis and helped raise funds for Davis’s defense. She served as national legal defense secretary for the Angela Davis Defense Fund and organized a major rally at Madison Square Garden. She also took on a leadership role in the American-Soviet Friendship Movement.

Death and legacy
Marvel Cooke died of leukemia in New York in 2000 at age 97. She had lived for many years at 409 Edgecombe Avenue in Sugar Hill, Manhattan—an address associated with many Black artists and activists. Cooke’s career made her a trailblazer for Black women in journalism and a steadfast advocate for civil rights, labor rights, and social reform. Her reporting helped bring attention to the injustices faced by Black workers and urban communities, and she remained a respected voice among fellow journalists and activists.

Works
- The Bronx Slave Market (1950) – a five‑part series for the Daily Compass
- Occupation: Streetwalker
- From Candy to Heroin
- The Bronx Slave Market (reprinted in Viewpoint Magazine, 2015)

See also
- List of civil rights leaders

References
- Notable biographies and obituaries noting Cooke’s pioneering role as a Black woman in journalism and her civil rights work.