The Samuel DuBois Cook Society was founded in the spring of 1997 to honor the years of service that Dr. Cook has offered to Duke University, to the cause of African American Advancement, and to the betterment of relations between persons of all backgrounds. The mission of the Society is to recognize, to celebrate, and to affirm the presence of African American students, faculty, and staff at Duke University.  Members of the Society commit themselves to the objectives to which Dr. Cook dedicated his professional life:

• to nurture a sense of community and belonging for African Americans; 
• to translate the promise and potential of African Americans at Duke into fulfillment and actuality; 
• to foster positive and constructive interpersonal and intergroup relations within both Duke University's and Durham's African American communities; 
• to cultivate positive relations between African Americans and other ethnic, racial and national groups on the basis of an enlightened appreciation and knowledge of our historic interdependence.