Dr. Oscar J. Cooper (1888-1972)

 

My dreams of becoming a doctor of medicine were manifesting, but I did not feel my duties on earth would be complete unless I built a bridge for others to follow. I was about to take an oath to preserve human life to the best of my ability, but I knew that that did not always include medical science. There are some things that are essential to the soul that medicine can not provide, such as Friendship. The only solution was establishing an organization to provide black men, a means to accomplish their goals.

I am Brother Cooper

Dr. Oscar J. Cooper, Distinguished Physician

Oscar J. Cooper, a native son of Washington, D.C., cane of God fearing and ambitious parents, who desired their son to control himself and master the arts expected of the fine gentleman. So he was taught by his parents to be punctilious and neat in his dress and distinctly chivalrous in his manners, never flashy or ostentatious, yet fashionable, prim and precise.

Upon finishing the elementary schools of Washington, Brother Cooper entered Howard University, from which he obtained his baccalaureate degree and his degree of Doctor of Medicine. Some of the academic subjects had little interest for him; for his all-absorbing interest in college was Biology. His aptness and proficiency along this line drew him rapidly to Professor Just, who was at that time at Howard University teaching Biology. So accomplished was Brother Cooper in this subject that he was made a laboratory assistant in Biology.

Brother Cooper thus was the link, between our other Founders, all Juniors, in the fall of 1911, and Professor Just, the eminent, young, associate professor, who advised the three young pioneers, Love, Cooper and Coleman.

Brother Cooper early showed that he believed both in pleasure and in work. He liked to socialize; but he also liked to work, to work hard for the achievement of great ends. Accordingly in the founding of Omega, Brother Cooper worked unsparingly along with the other Founders many a night until late in the morning.

Upon completing his medical course, Brother Cooper settled in Philadelphia and worked untiringly and persistently until he built up one of the most lucrative practices to be found among the physicians of Philadelphia.

He had an excellent general library and an excellent medical library. It is a real inspiration to go through these libraries and through his office. Brother Cooper is ever discovering new techniques in his field and using them efficiently.

We are only facing what other men have met. When we face things in our life that slow us down, we have to remember there is a way to succeed because someone else has already succeeded. To allow others a better chance to reach their goals, as we struggle to accomplish our own, we must leave the road we have traveled open. Just because we made it across through the endurance of a hand built bridge, we do not have to destroy the bridge so someone else has to build the same bridge.

Life is not a joke

Most of us take life for granted. Before we sleep we assume we are going to wake up and accomplish everything we should have done before we slept. We have to honor life for what it is, a limited time to accomplish specific projects. Therefore we must be assured our projects are honorable or we would waste the life that was given to us and live our days in vain.

Perseverance

Have you ever seen a Pit Bull attack? Did you see how enthusiastically he approached his target? He does not walk casually; he sprints as hard as he can to reach his objective. When he reaches it he totally destroys the target. It is irrelevant how much a fight his objective puts up, because it is in vain. The perseverance of a Pit Bull cannot be stopped.