Early Years
Cooper was born to a working-class Protestant family in Killaloo, County Londonderry, and later moved to the "Bogside" area of Derry city. He was briefly a member of the Claudy Young Unionist Association until April 1965 when he joined the Northern Ireland Labour Party. As the Labour candidate in the Stormont general election that year, he attracted a moderate amount of cross-community support, but was not elected. Committed to non-violence, he became a major figure in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, which campaigned for equality during the late 1960s. In 1968, Cooper resigned from the Labour Party and founded the Derry Citizens' Action Committee. In the summer of that year, at a protest meeting in the Guildhall foyer, he suggested that Catholics and Protestants alike should fight for their rights "as the blacks in America were fighting".
Attempting to rise above sectarian politics, he remained hopeful that both Catholics and Protestants could work together, particularly the working classes of both groups, whom he believed shared the same greater interests. His nationalist stance, however, led many fellow Protestants to view him as a traitor.
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