Born into slavery in 1861, Coralie Franklin Cook was an orator, professor, and suffragist. A direct descendant of Elizabeth Hemmings, she is also the first known descendant of those enslaved at Monticello to have graduated college. After graduating from Storer College, Cook became a faculty member at Howard University, where she taught elocution. She established herself as a gifted orator in Washington, D.C., and was the only African American woman invited to speak at the Susan B. Anthony’s 80th birthday celebration in 1900. Cook soon established herself as an activist and suffragist by becoming a leader of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (NACWC) and a member of the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Having established herself as an educated, middle-class woman, Cook became a central figure of the suffragist movement, and used her voice to emphasize the importance of dismantling discrimination based on both race and sex.