John F. Cook Jr.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "John F. Cook Jr." – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

John Francis Cook Jr. (September 1833 – January 20, 1910) was a prominent educator, politician, tax collector, businessman, community organizer, civil rights activist, and member of the African-American, Washingtonian elite of the late 19th century. Born into an established, middle-class family in Washington D.C., Cook was believed to be D.C.'s richest black resident in 1895 with a net worth of over two hundred thousand dollars.^[1] As a civilian and in government, Cook championed civil rights causes aimed at uplifting D.C.'s black community, mainly through education, community engagement, and political activism. Cook was also a staunch opponent of Jim Crow laws, the Colonization movement, and other causes designed to put African Americans at the fringes of American life.