Opal Cooper

Opal D. Cooper (1889 – 1974) was an African American musician and performer. Though little remembered today, in the years immediately after World War I, Cooper "was a singer, pianist and actor who experienced marginal success in the United States and parts of Europe during the 1920s and 1930s." He performed in many concerts and recitals, his first appearance being in the musical comedy called Darkydom in 1915. Cooper continued to make a name for himself as he was in other plays and concerts, where critics described him as "large" and "robust". (in which he played with Sam Richardson, Creighton Thompson, and Sidney Bechet), Seth Weeks Jazz Band, and the International Four, as well as a band with both DeKoven Thompson and Creighton Thompson, two of his cast mates from Darkydom. In 1949, Cooper married Cora Outten, and they moved to the Bronx in the late 1960s. To support him and his wife, Cooper became a taxi driver, which was his occupation until he died in 1974.

Personal and professional papers relating to him are held in the Opal Cooper collection at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.