Story 04
Politics and Protests
The eleven-week strike that Marvel Jackson Cooke organized while working at the Amsterdam News was supported by the Communist Party, which Cooke officially joined in 1936.
Although she would have been fired if her employers were aware of her affiliation, Cooke stayed true to her political beliefs. In the 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy forced her to testify twice before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Investigations regarding her involvement with the Communist Party; Cooke responded by invoking the Fifth Amendment. This experience only served to further her dedication to politics and civil rights. In 1990 Cooke served as the National Vice Chairman of the American-Soviet Friendship Committee.
