Barbara Lee Cooper ( Ward; August 4, 1929 – October 25, 2022) was an American politician and a Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives for the 86th District.

Biography

Cooper was born in the New Chicago area in the district of

North Memphis North Memphis is one of the five defined districts of Memphis, Tennessee. It includes smaller neighborhoods such as Klondike, New Chicago, Douglass, Hyde Park, Hollywood, Nutbush, Binghampton, Smokey City, Scutterfeld, Frayser, and Raleigh. ...

. Cooper graduated from Manassas High School in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. She also graduated from

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tenness ...

, with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree and a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Education. She was a

Memphis City Schools Memphis City Schools (MCS) was the school district operating public schools in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It was headquartered in the Frances E. Coe Administration Building. On March 8, 2011, residents voted to disband the ci ...

teacher. Cooper graduated with a Doctorate of Religious Philosophy in

Christian psychology Christian psychology is a merger of theology and psychology. It is an aspect of psychology adhering to the religion of Christianity and its teachings of Jesus Christ to explain the human mind and behavior. Christian psychology is a term typically ...

, from Jacksonville Theological Seminary (

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

) in 1999.Barbara Cooper
, Tennessee House Democratic Caucus website, accessed July 27, 2011 Cooper later became involved in Memphis politics, serving as the chair of the African-American People's Organization. They organized a convention that aided W. W. Herenton's election as mayor of Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1991 election and encouraged civic engagement with the Shelby County

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. In 1994, Cooper ran for the Tennessee House of Representatives in the 90th district, and lost to

John DeBerry John J. DeBerry Jr. (born February 5, 1951) is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing District 90 from 1995 to 2021. After his defeat in 2020, Governor Bill Lee appointed ...

in the Democratic Party's primary election. Cooper ran for the 86th district seat in the Tennessee House to succeed Rufus E. Jones, who did not run for reelection, in 1996. Cooper won primary election out of nine candidates. She was Vice Chair of the House Government Operations Committee. She served on the House Children and Family Affairs Committee, the House Education Committee, the House Family Justice Subcommittee and the House Higher Education Subcommittee. On November 8, 2022, Barbara Cooper posthumously won re-election in the 86th electoral district, with 74% of the vote over an independent candidate. On January 24, 2023, the special election primary to complete her term was won by Democrat Justin J. Pearson, with 52.4% of the vote over nine other candidates.

Personal life and death

In 1951, she married John D. Cooper, one of the first black firemen in the Memphis Fire Department; they had three children. John D. Cooper died in 2006, after 55 years of marriage. Cooper was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

who attended St. Augustine Catholic Church. Cooper died on October 25, 2022, at age 93.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Barbara 1929 births 2022 deaths African-American Catholics African-American state legislators in Tennessee African-American women in politics Politicians elected posthumously Tennessee State University alumni Catholics from Tennessee Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Women state legislators in Tennessee 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Politicians from Memphis, Tennessee 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century American politicians 20th-century African-American women 20th-century American women politicians