Serving Our Seniors Magazine: Jan - March 2023

Her Life and the Influence of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. memories of overcoming social barriers since grade school. Her father was originally from Philadelphia, PA. He was a World War II Veteran, a brilliant chemist and a cancer researcher. Her mother was a full time wife and mother who raised five very successful children. She made sure everyone studied so they would do well in school. She grew up in an all black section of Philadelphia. “There was a black hospital, a black bank and there was a small enclave of well-to-do blacks. My great-grandpa, William H. Cooper, was a principal of a black school and owned a three- story, row-house.” Later, this was where she grew up with her parents and four siblings. In the 1960’s she attended a segregated elementary school. She recalled, “I didn’t meet a little white girl until 1965. The elementary school books were from the 1930’s and 1940’s. I can still hear my parents say, ‘We pay taxes like everybody else, but the white children get new books and the black kids get the old and outdated books.’” Despite that being the case, her mother and father were very involved in the PTA. “My mom and dad made sure the school curriculum was up-to-snuff.” In the second grade, Marsha participated in her first, non-violent, protest. There was a boarding school for orphaned, white, boys called Girard. “Mom and Dad explained that this school is just for white boys and we want it to be integrated. They told me, ‘We are going to be part of a sit-in, to protest.’ I saw everyone was chanting, ‘One-two-three-four, open the door. Five, six, seven, eight, we want to integrate.’ We were there for hours and I remember feeling great.” Together they persevered and the school became an integrated boarding school. Fast forward to 2012. Marsha shared a serendipitous story about that day of protest. While traveling back to Sandusky from Cleveland she stopped at a gas station to get a cup of coffee. She was kibitzing with the man at the counter, who was the owner. She told him she was originally from Philadelphia. So was he. He told her he attended Girard boarding school for boys. She asked, “Did you know that school was segregated? And in 1963, when I was a little girl, my Mom and Dad took me there to get the school integrated.” The man did not know this history. The two felt a connection and talked for another hour. Marsha explained, “So here he is, now, living in Ohio and owns a gas station. Here I am, this black woman, who is a physician and we had this commonality in our histories. I left with such a good feeling. He had a good feeling, too.” In the third grade, she learned about red-lining. “My mother explained, ‘Your father can’t get enough money to fix the house up, because banks have red-lined where black people live. White people can get loans to put a new roof on the house, etc…, but black people can’t do (continued) Dr. Joseph Easen Cooper, Ph.D Marsha Cooper with her mother Rosa Cooper 15