in the hands of white women or Black, I offer you my warmest gratitude and congratulations."In a speech entitled "Votes for Mothers," Franklin Cook again stressed the importance of enfranchisement for both women and people of color. She stated, "Disfranchisement because of sex is curiously like disfranchisement because of color. It cripples the individual, it handicaps progress, it sets a limitation upon mental and spiritual development." Franklin Cook spoke at the Colored Women's League convention in Atlanta, Georgia in 1895, and gave a presentation on "Negro Poets" at the First Race Amity Convention in 1921. Personal life In 1884, Franklin purchased a home in Harpers Ferry at 509 Fillmore Street. Franklin purchased the home from Storer College where she was teaching at that time. On August 31, 1898, Franklin married George William Cook, A professor and Dean of the school at Howard University. The Cook's had one son named George William Cook Jr. on Dec. 15, 1901. Franklin Cook and her husband were married for 33 years until George died on August 20, 1931. Coral Franklin Cook died in 1942, at 81 years of age. Franklin Cook's sister Mary Franklin was married to attorney J. R. Clifford, a civil rights leader associated with the Niagara Movement. Baháʼí Faith Franklin Cook was an adherent of the Baháʼí Faith, and represented the Baháʼí Faith among the black intellectual community in Washington, D.C. since 1910, and formally converted around 1913. Many Baháʼí activities in the Washington, D.C. area were organized and influenced by Franklin Cook. She felt the beliefs of this faith would benefit young African Americans by helping them realize their potential and provide them with a more positive outlook on life. As a result, she is credited with bringing this faith to Howard University students by organizing meetings on campus. "Her work on race unity and racial uplift activities made valuable inroads in the Black community." Additionally, she wrote a letter to `Abdu'l-Bahá, one of the three central figures of the faith, pleading him to address the "Race Problem" and its relation to the Baháʼí Faith in the United States. References External links Letter from Coralie Franklin Cook to W. E. B. DuBois (1918), from University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries. 1861 births 1942 deaths 19th-century American educators People from Lexington, Virginia African-American Bahá'ís American suffragists African-American suffragists 19th-century American women educators 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women People from Harpers Ferry,