Dorothy Cooper, defender of voting rights, dies at 101
Dorothy Cooper died Sunday, but the attention the Chattanooga woman brought to voter rights will not soon be forgotten.
Cooper, 101, became a national icon for voter rights after a Tennessee voter identification law passed in 2011. The law required Tennessee residents to show a valid driver’s license or other government-issued photo ID in order to vote.
Cooper had only missed voting one time — a move prevented her from registering on time in 1960 — since women were given the right to vote, the Times Free Press reported previously. When she heard of the new law, she took steps to get a free voter ID.
On Oct. 3, 2011, she took an envelope with a collection of documents to prove her residency and identity, but she didn’t have her marriage license with her to prove she was the same person listed on her birth certificate. It listed her maiden name and was her primary proof of identity.
It wasn’t until Oct. 20 that she got her photo ID.
National media outlets reported Cooper’s story, and the Tennessee Democratic Party used her experience in its fight against the photo ID law. The HBO series “The Newsroom” featured her story in its finale, in which Cooper is identified by name in the show’s fictional newscast.
Cooper didn’t have a driver’s license as a photo ID because she didn’t drive. Julia Fleming, her only niece, said she or other family members or friends would drive Cooper to where she needed to go.
“I took care of her for 10 years, but she didn’t really need it,” Fleming said, adding Cooper stayed independent up until the day she died.
Fleming said she remembers her aunt always being there for her family and telling them stories. Cooper didn’t have any children, but she would cook for her friends.
“You really can’t say enough about her,” said Benny Hayes, president of the Boynton Terrace resident association. “She was the one you’d say, ‘She can cook’ about.”
He and Fleming referenced Cooper’s banana bread as one of her specialities. She was like a mother, Hayes said.
Joe Clark, former president of the resident association, said he had known Cooper since 1989. He said she worked with him on his advisory board for many years.
“She was very well respected,” he said. “She was very involved in the upkeep of the community.”
Hayes said if the community as a whole did not agree with something, Cooper wouldn’t, either.
“She would tell you like it is,” he said. “She would attend resident council meetings regularly, and if she didn’t think something was right, she was on your side.”
Cooper would stay up to date on what was being discussed during council meetings, Hayes said, and if unable to attend, she would call a council member to ask what happened.
“It hasn’t soaked in yet,” he said. “As days go by and more people find out, they’ll be sad. It’s like missing a soldier, you know?”