Nannie Helen Burroughs
Encyclopedia
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
educator, orator, religious leader, and businesswoman. She gained national recognition for her 1900 speech "How the Sisters Are Hindered from Helping," at the National Baptist Convention
National Baptist Convention
National Baptist Convention may refer to:One of several historically African-American Christian denominations:*National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., the oldest and largest denomination using this name, formed in the late 19th century...
. She founded the National Training School for Women and Girls in Washington, DC in 1909. It has since been renamed the Nannie Helen Burroughs School in her honor and provides education for the elementary grades.
Early life
Nannie Helen Burroughs was born on May 2, 1879, in Orange, VirginiaOrange, Virginia
Orange is a town in Orange County, Virginia, United States. The population was 4,721 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Orange County...
. Her parents were John and Jennie Burroughs. They were freedmen, both ex-slaves. Her father was a farmer and itinerant Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
preacher
Preacher
Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...
; her mother was a cook.
After the death of her father when Nannie was five, their mother moved to Washington, DC with her girls to give them a chance for a better education. In the South, rural schools for blacks were limited in number and underfunded for decades. Washington, DC had the reputation for some of the best schools for blacks in the country. They attracted excellent teachers, who were federal employees.
Education
In 1896, Nannie graduated with honors in business and domestic science from the Colored High School on M Street (an academic high school, now Dunbar High SchoolDunbar High School
Dunbar High School can refer to:* Dunbar High School , listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Jefferson County, Alabama* Dunbar High School — Chicago, Illinois...
).
Career
National Association of Colored Women
The National Association of Colored Women Clubs was established in Washington, D.C., USA, by the merger in 1896 of the National Federation of Afro-American Women, the Women's Era Club of Boston, and the National League of Colored Women of Washington, DC, as well as smaller organizations that had...
(NACW). In 1897, Burroughs started work as an associate editor at the Christian Banner in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
.
In 1900, Burroughs moved to Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, to work as a secretary for the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention
National Baptist Convention
National Baptist Convention may refer to:One of several historically African-American Christian denominations:*National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., the oldest and largest denomination using this name, formed in the late 19th century...
. This was the national association of black Baptist churches. After the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, black congregations quickly withdrew from white-dominated churches to create churches independent of white supervision. They had a few at that time, but soon had many more. Within several years, they were setting up state Baptist associations and, by the end of the century, national associations. This is still the largest black Baptist denomination.
In 1909, Burroughs founded the National Training School for Women and Girls in Washington, D.C. After her death, in 1976 it was renamed the Nannie Helen Burroughs School in her honor, and has been designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
. The school emphasized preparing students for employment. Burroughs offered courses in domestic science and secretarial skills, but also in unconventional occupations such as shoe repair, barbering, and gardening. Burroughs created a creed of racial self-help through her program of the three Bs: the Bible, the bath, and the broom. The Bible, the bath, and the broom stood for a clean life, a clean body, and a clean house.
Burroughs believed domestic work should be professionalized and unionized. She trained her students to be respectable employees by becoming pious, pure, and domestic, but not submissive. She emphasized the importance of being proud black women to all students, by teaching African-American history and culture through a required course in the Department of Negro History. She became active in the National League of Republican Colored Women, and the National Association of Wage Earners, working to influence legislation related to wages for domestic workers and other positions held by women.
In 1931, the Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
administration appointed her as committee chairwomen concerning Negro Housing, for his White House Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership. This was in the early years of the Great Depression.
Burroughs died in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
on May 20, 1961.
Legacy and honors
- 1907, she received an honorary M.A. from Eckstein Norton University, a historically black college in Cane Spring, Bullitt County, KentuckyBullitt County, KentuckyAs of the census of 2000, there were 61,236 people, 22,171 households, and 17,736 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 23,160 housing units at an average density of...
. (It merged with Simpson University in 1912.) - 1976, the school she founded in Washington, DC was named after her.
- Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE, a street in the DeanwoodDeanwoodDeanwood is a neighborhood in Northeast Washington, D.C., bounded by Eastern Avenue to the northeast, Kenilworth Avenue to the northwest, and Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue to the south....
neighborhood of Washington, DC, is named after her. - The Burroughs Collection of papers is held by the Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, Manuscript Division. It consists of 110,000 items (1900-1963); bulk (1928-60), which also contains material concerning her activities with the National Baptist ConventionNational Baptist ConventionNational Baptist Convention may refer to:One of several historically African-American Christian denominations:*National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., the oldest and largest denomination using this name, formed in the late 19th century...
, National League of Republican Colored Women, and National Association of Wage Earners. - In 1997 she was designated a Women's History MonthWomen's History MonthWomen's History Month is an annual declared month worldwide that highlights contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. March has been set aside as this month in the United Kingdom and in the United States...
Honoree by the National Women's History ProjectNational Women's History ProjectThe National Women's History Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and preserving women's history. Based out of Santa Rosa, California since 1980, it was started by women's history activists Molly Murphy MacGregor, Mary Ruthsdotter, Maria Cuevas, Paula Hammett and Bette...
.