Ann Nixon Cooper: the history woman
She had dinner with Bobby Kennedy. Nat King Cole came to her parties. Martin Luther King sent her a telegram when her husband died and she has photographs of herself with his late wife Coretta on her sideboard.
In the early hours of yesterday morning, at the age of 106, she beat her personal best - Barack Obama singled out Ann Nixon Cooper for praise in his acceptance speech to hundreds of thousands of ecstatic supporters in Chicago.
The President-elect spoke of his admiration for Mrs Nixon Cooper, a well-to-do, monied centagenarian living in Atlanta whose own life has plotted the struggle of black Americans during the last century:
"She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the colour of her skin."
Mrs Nixon Cooper was not entirely susprised when she heard her name mentioned at the victory rally. A spokesman from the Obama campaign had called her on Tuesday afternoon at her home on Martin Luther King Drive in Atlanta, and told her that she was about to become America's most famous 106-year-old.
Speaking to The Times in her dining room yesterday afternoon, Mrs Nixon Cooper, said: "I stayed up late to watch his speech. I was elated, of course. It was very exciting. I never, never, never thought we would get a black President. Never."
Read entire article at Times (UK)
In the early hours of yesterday morning, at the age of 106, she beat her personal best - Barack Obama singled out Ann Nixon Cooper for praise in his acceptance speech to hundreds of thousands of ecstatic supporters in Chicago.
The President-elect spoke of his admiration for Mrs Nixon Cooper, a well-to-do, monied centagenarian living in Atlanta whose own life has plotted the struggle of black Americans during the last century:
"She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the colour of her skin."
Mrs Nixon Cooper was not entirely susprised when she heard her name mentioned at the victory rally. A spokesman from the Obama campaign had called her on Tuesday afternoon at her home on Martin Luther King Drive in Atlanta, and told her that she was about to become America's most famous 106-year-old.
Speaking to The Times in her dining room yesterday afternoon, Mrs Nixon Cooper, said: "I stayed up late to watch his speech. I was elated, of course. It was very exciting. I never, never, never thought we would get a black President. Never."