Myrtle Foster Cook

Foster was a church organist and Sunday school teacher in her youth in Michigan. She was teaching at a [[normal school]] in [[Frankfort, Kentucky]] when she met her first husband, a doctor. She moved with him to [[Muskogee, Oklahoma]], where she taught school, started a club, organized a lecture series, and raised funds to build a hospital.

Foster was a church organist and Sunday school teacher in her youth in Michigan. She was teaching at a [[normal school]] in [[Frankfort, Kentucky]] when she met her first husband, a doctor. She moved with him to [[Muskogee, Oklahoma]], where she taught school, started a club, organized a lecture series, and raised funds to build a hospital.

Foster moved to [[Kansas City, Missouri]] in 1916. She was head of the English department at [[Lincoln College Preparatory Academy|Lincoln High School]], and met her second husband, a fellow teacher. The Cooks established a savings and loan association for African Americans. Myrtle Foster Cook was national chair of the [[NAACP]]'s legal defense fund.{{Cite journal|last=|first=|date=March 1925|title=Finances|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000054421528&view=1up&seq=219|journal=The Crisis|volume=29|pages=213|via=Hathi Trust}}{{Cite journal|last=|first=|date=May 1924|title=Annual Legal Defense Fund|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YcERAQAAMAAJ&dq=Myrtle+Foster+Cook&pg=PA23|journal=The Crisis|volume=28|pages=23|via=}} She was a leader in the Kansas City chapters of the [[YWCA]] and the [[National Association of Colored Women's Clubs|National Association of Colored Women]] (NACW). She was editor-manager of the NACW's ''National Notes'' from 1922 to 1926,{{Cite book|last=Materson|first=Lisa G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pu-nrDzj-18C&dq=Myrtle+Foster+Cook&pg=PA147|title=For the Freedom of Her Race: Black Women and Electoral Politics in Illinois, 1877-1932|date=2009|publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0-8078-3271-4|location=|pages=147, 160|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=1926-10-09|title=Mrs. Cook Addresses Portland Women|pages=13|work=The Pittsburgh Courier|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69368610/mrs-cook-addresses-portland-women/|access-date=2021-02-04|via=Newspapers.com}} and chaired the NACW's history department later in the 1920s,{{Cite journal|last=Dagbovie|first=Pero Gaglo|date=2003|title=Black Women, Carter G. Woodson, and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1915-1950|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3559046|journal=The Journal of African American History|volume=88|issue=1|pages=31|doi=10.2307/3559046|jstor=3559046|s2cid=144343917|issn=1548-1867|via=|url-access=subscription}} when she spoke on a conference panel with [[Carter G. Woodson]], [[Sallie Wyatt Stewart]], and [[Arsania Williams]].{{Cite journal|last=|first=|date=1929|title=Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History Held in St. Louis, Missouri, October 21 to 25, 1928|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2714094|journal=The Journal of Negro History|volume=14|issue=1|pages=3|jstor=2714094|issn=0022-2992|via=}} In 1934 she was elected president of the NACW's Central District.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=1934-07-28|title=Myrtle Foster Cook is Central District Head|pages=8|work=The Pittsburgh Courier|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68360090/annette-officer-national-assoc-colored/|access-date=2021-02-04|via=Newspapers.com}}

Foster moved to [[Kansas City, Missouri]] in 1916. She was head of the English department at [[Lincoln College Preparatory Academy|Lincoln High School]], and met her second husband, a fellow teacher. The Cooks established a savings and loan association for African Americans. Myrtle Foster Cook was national chair of the [[NAACP]]'s legal defense fund.{{Cite journal|last=|first=|date=March 1925|title=Finances|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000054421528&view=1up&seq=219|journal=The Crisis|volume=29|pages=213|via=HathiTrust}}{{Cite journal|last=|first=|date=May 1924|title=Annual Legal Defense Fund|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YcERAQAAMAAJ&dq=Myrtle+Foster+Cook&pg=PA23|journal=The Crisis|volume=28|pages=23|via=}} She was a leader in the Kansas City chapters of the [[YWCA]] and the [[National Association of Colored Women's Clubs|National Association of Colored Women]] (NACW). She was editor-manager of the NACW's ''National Notes'' from 1922 to 1926,{{Cite book|last=Materson|first=Lisa G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pu-nrDzj-18C&dq=Myrtle+Foster+Cook&pg=PA147|title=For the Freedom of Her Race: Black Women and Electoral Politics in Illinois, 1877-1932|date=2009|publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0-8078-3271-4|location=|pages=147, 160|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=1926-10-09|title=Mrs. Cook Addresses Portland Women|pages=13|work=The Pittsburgh Courier|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69368610/mrs-cook-addresses-portland-women/|access-date=2021-02-04|via=Newspapers.com}} and chaired the NACW's history department later in the 1920s,{{Cite journal|last=Dagbovie|first=Pero Gaglo|date=2003|title=Black Women, Carter G. Woodson, and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1915-1950|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3559046|journal=The Journal of African American History|volume=88|issue=1|pages=31|doi=10.2307/3559046|jstor=3559046|s2cid=144343917|issn=1548-1867|via=|url-access=subscription}} when she spoke on a conference panel with [[Carter G. Woodson]], [[Sallie Wyatt Stewart]], and [[Arsania Williams]].{{Cite journal|last=|first=|date=1929|title=Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History Held in St. Louis, Missouri, October 21 to 25, 1928|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2714094|journal=The Journal of Negro History|volume=14|issue=1|pages=3|jstor=2714094|issn=0022-2992|via=}} In 1934 she was elected president of the NACW's Central District.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=1934-07-28|title=Myrtle Foster Cook is Central District Head|pages=8|work=The Pittsburgh Courier|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68360090/annette-officer-national-assoc-colored/|access-date=2021-02-04|via=Newspapers.com}}

Cook organized to create the Jackson County Home for Negro Boys, and was a leader of the Women's League of Kansas City. She was appointed by governors [[Sam Aaron Baker]] and [[Arthur M. Hyde]] to the Missouri Negro Educational and Industrial Commission (MNEIC).{{Cite journal|last=|first=|date=June 1925|title=Social Progress|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JcgZAAAAIAAJ&dq=Myrtle+Foster+Cook&pg=PA191|journal=Opportunity|volume=3|pages=191|via=}} She was active in suffrage work, and in Republican Party politics after the vote was won. She held various leadership roles in the 1920 and 1924 election cycles, and in 1928, Cook was named to the National Republican Executive Committee,{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=1928-10-23|title=Mrs. Myrtle Cook Talks|pages=5|work=Lincoln Journal Star|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69368197/mrs-myrtle-cook-talks/|access-date=2021-02-04|via=Newspapers.com}} working with [[Addie Waites Hunton]] on the Hoover campaign.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=1928-09-29|title=Who But Hoover?|pages=2|work=The Pittsburgh Courier|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69368404/who-but-hoover/|access-date=2021-02-04|via=Newspapers.com}}

Cook organized to create the Jackson County Home for Negro Boys, and was a leader of the Women's League of Kansas City. She was appointed by governors [[Sam Aaron Baker]] and [[Arthur M. Hyde]] to the Missouri Negro Educational and Industrial Commission (MNEIC).{{Cite journal|last=|first=|date=June 1925|title=Social Progress|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JcgZAAAAIAAJ&dq=Myrtle+Foster+Cook&pg=PA191|journal=Opportunity|volume=3|pages=191|via=}} She was active in suffrage work, and in Republican Party politics after the vote was won. She held various leadership roles in the 1920 and 1924 election cycles, and in 1928, Cook was named to the National Republican Executive Committee,{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=1928-10-23|title=Mrs. Myrtle Cook Talks|pages=5|work=Lincoln Journal Star|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69368197/mrs-myrtle-cook-talks/|access-date=2021-02-04|via=Newspapers.com}} working with [[Addie Waites Hunton]] on the Hoover campaign.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=1928-09-29|title=Who But Hoover?|pages=2|work=The Pittsburgh Courier|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69368404/who-but-hoover/|access-date=2021-02-04|via=Newspapers.com}}