Twelve years older than Vicki Garvin, Marvel Cooke moved
to New York City the same year Garvin’s family moved to Harlem. Her father was a Pullman porter while her
mother spent most of her married life, tending to her household and family.
Cooke was born April 9, 1903 in Mankato, Minnesota where she lived in a wealthy white neighborhood. Cooke graduated from the University of Minnesota and found a job working for
the prominent black scholar, W.E.B. Du Bois in Brooklyn. Harlem’s refreshing
mixture of culture and politics guided her into becoming an active member of
the Communist Party. Cooke also was a progressive journalist for the
black-owned New York Amsterdam News,
People’s Voice and New
York’s The Daily Compass. She died on November 29, 2000 in New York of leukemia.
http://dlib.nyu.edu/undercover/i-i-was-part-bronx-slave-market-marvel-cooke-new-york-compass
If you want to read any of her newspaper articles go to this link.
If you want to read any of her newspaper articles go to this link.