  In the short but powerful opening statement of A Voice from the South, “Our Raison d’Être” (1892) Cooper explains that while the voice of the Negro (man) of the South has been but a muffled chord, “the one mute and voiceless note has been the sadly expectant Black woman…” (cited in The Voice of Anna Julia Cooper, hereafter VAJC, p. 51).  Using the analogy of a courtroom trial, Cooper explains that the plaintiff’s and defendant’s attorneys: