Marvel Cooke

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Marvel Cooke (April 4, 1903 - November 29, 2000) was an American journalist, writer, and civil rights activist. She was the first African American woman to work at a mainstream white-owned newspaper. Cooke was born in Mankato, Minnesota and graduated from the University of Minnesota. Settling in Harlem, New York, she worked as secretary for W. E. B. Du Bois, the editor of the NAACP magazine, The Crisis. She broke off her engagement to (later NAACP leader) Roy Wilkins because she thought him too conservative. In the 1930s, Cooke helped create a local of The Newspaper Guild, participating in an eleven-week strike at the Amsterdam News. During the strike, she joined the Communist Party.