Content Warning: This section discusses issues of racism and sexism.

Progress is a recurrent motif in Cooper’s analysis related to the quest for racial justice and equality. The idea becomes dubious as Cooper stresses the possibilities of the American system while noting that it has not yet achieved its foundational goals. Cooper reflects the context of her time when she proclaims the superiority of Western culture and its connection “with all that is progressive, elevating and inspiring” (6). Her analysis contradicts the certainty of this idea. She notes that the trust in the Western political system is not hinged upon the results it has brought but in “the possibilities and promise that are inherent in the system, though as yet, perhaps, far in the future” (6) She illustrates progress as a promise that has not yet been fulfilled as she states, “We have not yet reached our ideal in American civilization” (7).Therefore, the idea of progress also connects to the quest for social change. Cooper notes that “real progress is growth” and that for a society to achieve growth, people must be equal and free (14).

For Cooper, progress also relates to a social order that opposes white supremacy.