Marvel Jackson Cooke testifying before the Senate, 1953, New York Historical Society.
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Marvel Jackson Cooke was a native of Mankato, MN and grew up in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Minneapolis. She moved to Harlem and worked as an editorial assistant for W.E.B. DuBois at The Crisis, an NAACP newspaper. Cooke was the only Black and the only female reporter at The Daily Compass newspaper. By going undercover in 1935 and again in 1950, she exposed the terrible working conditions and economic exploitation for New York City domestic workers in her articles about the “Bronx Slave Market.” Her activism and articles encouraged union membership in the Domestic Workers Union and policy changes to eliminate this exploitation of Black women. As a member of the Communist Party, she was forced to testify twice before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee under Joseph McCarthy. This did not slow down Cooke’s political activism as she continued writing and sponsoring political events until the end of life at age 99.
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