Marvel Cooke

Marvel Cooke (1903-2000) was a pioneering African American journalist and labor organizer whose career spanned decades of civil rights and workers' rights activism. Born in North Carolina, Cooke moved to New York and became one of the first Black women reporters for the New York Amsterdam News and later the New York Compass. She was a co-founder of the National Negro Congress in 1936 and used her journalism as a platform to expose racial discrimination and labor exploitation. During the McCarthy era, she faced scrutiny for her progressive politics and union activities, but remained committed to advocating for marginalized workers. Cooke reported on housing discrimination, police brutality, and economic injustice, bringing visibility to stories that mainstream media ignored. Her work as both a journalist and activist made her a crucial voice in 20th-century civil rights movements, and she continued writing into her later years, documenting the experiences of working-class African Americans.