Early Life and Education The Honorable Clarence Cooper was born on May 5, 1942, in Decatur, Georgia. He graduated from David T. Howard High School in 1960 and earned a Bachelor of Arts from Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University) in 1964. He enrolled at Howard University School of Law before transferring to Emory University School of Law in 1965, where he became one of the institution's first full-time African American law students, earning his Juris Doctor in 1967. He earned a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government on June 8, 1978 — his Harvard diploma, signed by President Derek Curtis Bok and Dean of the faculty Graham T. Allison Jr., is preserved in this collection. He also completed the M.I.T. Community Fellows Program (1977–78) and the National College of the State Judiciary program, certificates for both of which are also in this collection. Cooper is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and had documented affiliations with Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity (Kappa Boule, Atlanta).

Military Service Cooper served in the United States Army from 1968 to 1970, attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant (E-6, Serial No. 259-62-6475). He was decorated with the Bronze Star, Certificate of Commendation, National Defense Service Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Legal Career and Pioneering Judicial Service Cooper began his legal career at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society in 1967. In 1968 he became the first African American assistant district attorney in a Georgia state prosecutor's office, serving under District Attorney Lewis R. Slaton. After military service he served as Assistant District Attorney for Fulton County (1970–1975). In 1975 he was appointed to the Atlanta Municipal Court, becoming the first African American appointed to a full-time judgeship in Atlanta. In 1980 he made history as the first African American elected to a county-wide judgeship in Georgia, winning a seat on the Fulton County Superior Court — where he presided over the 1982 Wayne Williams trial in the Atlanta Child Murders case. A signed court order from his Superior Court tenure is preserved in this collection. In February 1990 Cooper was appointed to the Georgia Court of Appeals and retained the seat following a subsequent election. He was nominated by Governor Joe Frank Harris for a vacancy on the Georgia Supreme Court (1989) and served as co-chairperson of the Supreme Court Commission on Racial and Ethnic Bias (oath of office signed April 28, 1993, before Chief Justice Harold G. Clarke). He was designated Amicus Curiae of the Supreme Court of Georgia on August 5, 1994.

Federal Judicial Service President Bill Clinton nominated Cooper to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on March 9, 1994. The Senate confirmed him on May 6, 1994, and he received his commission on May 9, 1994. His complete federal nomination package is preserved in this collection. Cooper assumed senior status on February 9, 2009. Among his most significant rulings was the 2005 Selman v. Cobb County School District decision, ordering removal of evolution disclaimer stickers from public school science textbooks as an unconstitutional establishment of religion. Emory University School of Law's American Inn of Court was subsequently renamed in his honor.

Community Leadership and Recognition Judge Cooper received the National Bar Association's Gertrude E. Rush Award (March 21, 2005) and recognition from the Minority Judges of Georgia, the National Council of Negro Women, the Eta Omega Chapter of Iota Phi Phi Fraternity (2006), and the Supreme Court of Georgia, among others. He maintained affiliations with the South Fulton Bar Association, the St. Thomas More Society, the Just the Beginning Foundation, and the 100 Black Men of Atlanta. His wife Shirley (née Elder) was the first black food service coordinator for the Atlanta-Fulton County School System. Their children are Jennae Marie Cooper and Corey Cooper.

Legacy Cooper's career represents a sustained effort to open Georgia's legal profession and judiciary to African Americans — from his appointment as the state's first Black prosecutor, through the Atlanta Child Murders trial, to landmark First Amendment rulings from the federal bench.