Tempestuous Elements

"A big chunk of hidden history…and hidden D.C. history"

— Molly Smith

Born into slavery in North Carolina, Anna Julia Cooper was a visionary Black feminist and educator in the late 19^th/early 20^th centuries, and only the fourth African American woman to earn a doctoral degree. Tempestuous Elements—the 11^th in Arena Stage’s Power Play cycle—shines a light on Cooper’s tumultuous tenure as Principal of Washington, D.C.’s historic M Street School where she fought to keep Black education alive, despite the racism, gossip and sexism that threatened to consign her efforts to obscurity