Draft:Angela Paige Cook

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Angela Paige Cook, Ph.D. is an American educator, civil rights activist, and Founder of Paige Academy, a private school in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood that has served children from infancy through sixth grade since 1975. Dr. Cook has dedicated nearly five decades to providing academically rigorous education that is culturally resonant and community inspired. In 2023, she was recognized as one of "Boston's most admired, beloved, and successful Black Women leaders" by the Black Women Lead project.

Early Life and Education

Angela Paige Cook was born in Washington, D.C. She attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she started as a theater arts major. A talented comedian and performer, Cook was encouraged by her mother to major in education, as it offered more stable career prospects for Black women in the 1960s. She ultimately graduated with a degree in both theater arts and education.

Dr. Cook later earned a Master's degree in Early Childhood Education from Wheelock College in Boston and completed her Ph.D. She also served as an Urban Studies Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her dissertation and other works are housed at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Activism

Freedom Schools (1960s)

During her undergraduate years at Fisk University, Dr. Cook became actively involved in the Black Power movement. Along with fellow students, she co-founded one of the first Freedom Schools in Nashville's inner city, operating out of a small storefront on the main dirt street of a Black community. The school met on Saturdays, providing students with a nutritious hot breakfast and teaching them African American history and cultural pride—subjects absent from public education curricula. Students learned concepts such as "A is for Africa, B is for Black, C is for Color," along with Negro spirituals and civil rights songs.

In October 1966, during a Saturday morning class, 8-10 police cars arrived at the Freedom School. White police officers entered the building without warning and destroyed the school's windows and doors while the children were inside. Dr. Cook and her colleagues managed to evacuate the students safely, but the traumatic incident—which she described as involving "the sound of breaking glass and dirty epithets mixed with the sound of children screaming and crying"—profoundly shaped her commitment to creating safe educational spaces for Black children. This experience, she later wrote, demonstrated that "the challenge continues today" in providing quality education for African American children.

Massachusetts

Dr. Cook moved to the Boston area in the late 1960s when her husband, Rev. Joe Cook, enrolled at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge. Rev. Cook had declared himself a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, but his Alabama draft board refused to recognize the classification. He was arrested by the FBI in Cambridge, though his case eventually went to the Supreme Court, where he won. The couple had just married when they relocated to Massachusetts.

Roxbury

The Cooks were drawn to Boston's Roxbury community. They found a vibrant, diverse area of the city where Black residents, working-class white residents, and a large gay community coexisted with mutual respect. Dr. Cook describes the neighborhood as having "that sense of community" where people looked out for each other regardless of background.

However, the neighborhood faced severe challenges. There were no sidewalks, no playgrounds, and abandoned buildings and lots throughout the area. A campaign of arson targeted the neighborhood almost nightly, which was later revealed to be orchestrated by a fire marshal paid by insurance companies and homeowners—though the fires were initially blamed on Black gangs and youth. The neighborhood's struggles were also exemplified by the 1989 Charles Stewart case, in which a white man murdered his pregnant wife and falsely blamed Black youths. This lead to months of police harassment of the community's young people.

The first night Dr. Cook and her husband moved into their Roxbury home, her car was stolen. They chased the thieves through the streets but received no help from multiple police officers they passed. They eventually recovered the car and displayed the thieves' abandoned hats on a stick with a sign reading "We would have shot you but it's not worth it." Dr. Cook recalls that after this incident, "nobody messed with us."

Despite—or perhaps because of—these challenges, Dr. Cook found Roxbury to be a place where people from different socioeconomic backgrounds lived near each other and communicated, unlike more segregated middle-class neighborhoods. She purchased their house for $14,000. At that time, other properties in the area sold for as little as $8,000-$10,000, or even one dollar in some cases.

Experience as a Teacher amidst the Desegregation of Boston's Public Schools

Dr. Cook became a substitute teacher for Boston and Cambridge Public Schools, despite being unfamiliar with New England winters and the geography of the area. Around this time, in 1974, Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts found a recurring pattern of racial discrimination in the operation of the Boston public schools. His ruling found the schools were unconstitutionally segregated, and required the implementation the state's Racial Imbalance Act, requiring any Boston school with a student enrollment that was more than 50% nonwhite to be balanced according to race. This ruling was met with intense violence, political backlash, and "white flight" on the part of white Boston residents who could afford to leave the city, opting to move to suburban areas that were beyond the reach of desgregation orders or sending their children to private schools. From September 1974 through the fall of 1976, at least 40 riots occurred in the city. On October 15 1974, an interracial stabbing at Hyde Park High School led to a riot that injured 8, and at South Boston High School on December 11, aninterracial stabbing led to a riotous crowd of 1,800 to 2,500 whites hurling projectiles at police while white students fled the facility and black students remained.

Within the classrooms, Dr. Cook consistently observed systemic discrimination from white teachers and school staff against Black and brown students, who were often relegated to basement classrooms and labeled as having "emotional problems." These students were typically assigned multiple substitute teachers simultaneously, reflecting low expectations from the school system as a whole.

Dr. Cook developed innovative teaching methods to reach these marginalized students. She brought a popcorn popper to class and used fresh popcorn as a positive reinforcement tool, distributing it to students who were engaged in productive activities. This simple intervention helped students reflect on their behavior in a non-punitive way. Her approach proved so successful that principals requested her return, and she was able to manage classes alone that had previously required multiple teachers.

In her observations, Dr. Cook noted that Black boys were routinely categorized as special needs students based on teachers' assumptions about their home environments rather than actual assessment. As she later reflected, "teachers didn't expect much so they didn't get much."

During this period, Dr. Cook also taught ballet at the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, a renowned institution for Black cultural education in Roxbury, and worked with the Upward Bound program teaching theater to at-risk youth.

Founding of Paige Academy

In 1975, Dr. Cook and her husband, along with six other co-founders, established Paige Academy in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. The school opened during the turbulent period of Boston's school desegregation crisis, when many schools in the city were closing. When people questioned why they would open a school during such turmoil, Cook's response was: "We're opening a different type of school."

The academy began with just five children, meeting in space borrowed from a church. The founding staff lived communally for the first 10-13 years, earning only $25-50 per week each to sustain the mission. This period of sacrifice and dedication established the foundation for what would become a lasting institution.

Educational Philosophy

The Paige Academy curriculum is built on the Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). Cook deliberately chose these principles because they are universal and applicable across cultures, while remaining rooted in African diaspora traditions. The principle of Imani (Faith) is defined at the academy as "faith in yourself, faith in your ancestors, and faith in your god"—an inclusive formulation that resolved early tensions among families with different religious backgrounds.

Every morning, students in each classroom gather in a circle for "Umoja time," where they recite the seven principles in both Swahili and English. The principles are integrated throughout the school day as a framework for conflict resolution and character development. For example, when disputes arise over knocked-over blocks or hurt feelings, students and teachers work through the situation using the principles, particularly Ujima (collective work and responsibility), to find collaborative solutions.

Dr. Cook's educational approach emphasizes cultural affirmation, individual worth, and collective responsibility. She has written extensively about the importance of linking students' backgrounds and needs to curriculum, culture, and language for successful education, particularly for Black and Latino children in urban settings.

Innovative Programs

Paige Academy has developed a comprehensive educational model that extends far beyond traditional academics to environmental awareness through community gardening, STEM with a focus on robotics, arts and culture including music, improvisational theater, and visual arts, as well as holistic practices.

Community Impact

Paige Academy has served as an anchor institution in the Highland Park/Roxbury community for nearly 50 years. The school built the first playground in the Highland Park neighborhood, constructed by the founders themselves rather than waiting for city assistance. Dr. Cook has noted that the school has "helped us keep Black people in this community and not be overwhelmed by gentrification."

The school's physical presence has also been significant. In addition to the main building, Father Eugene Mitchell of the Episcopal Church donated land with a house on it to the school. However, the city demolished the building without proper authorization, claiming to have a document with Dr. Cook's signature—which she maintained was forged. Being in their twenties and having limited legal resources at the time, the Cooks were unable to fight the city's actions successfully.

Personal Life

Dr. Angela Paige Cook is married to Rev. Joe Cook, a physicist who worked on the Large Hadron Collider project at CERN that discovered the Higgs Boson, earning a Nobel Prize in Physics for the team. Rev. Cook studied physics at Vanderbilt University and attended divinity school at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, balancing his interests in both physics and theology. He later completed his physics degree at Northeastern University. The couple served together as ministers at First Church in Roxbury for a number of years.

The Cooks have three sons: Ahmed (1972–2014), Israel, and Ashé. Ahmed Cook was both a student and beloved teacher at Paige Academy, teaching art, music, African drumming, and kindergarten. He was diagnosed with cancer at age 16, underwent treatment into his early twenties, graduated from Fisk University with a bachelor's degree in art and education, and returned to teach at Paige Academy until his death at age 42 in 2014. His artwork is displayed throughout the school, and his funeral at First Church in Roxbury featured a processional of nearly 100 people from the school accompanied by African drummers.

Recognition and Legacy

Dr. Cook's nearly 50 years of educational work have impacted multiple generations. The first class of Paige Academy students are now well into their fifties, and many have gone on to attend elite New England schools and establish successful careers. Alumni and parents frequently express gratitude to Dr. Cook, crediting the school with building their children's confidence, academic success, and sense of cultural pride.

Community members and colleagues have described Dr. Cook as an inspiration whose life work has created a "beacon of hope" for the Black community in Roxbury. Her commitment to educational equity, cultural affirmation, and community-building has established a model that continues to influence alternative education approaches. As one parent noted, the school has been "exceptional" for students, providing not just academic instruction but a foundation of self-worth and cultural pride.

Paige Academy stands as a testament to Dr. Cook's belief, expressed decades ago during her Freedom School work, that "student backgrounds and needs must be linked in terms of culture and language if they're to be educated successfully." Her life's work demonstrates the power of culturally responsive education, institutional longevity, and unwavering commitment to serving marginalized communities.