BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " NANNIR HELEN BURROUGHS " WAS AN EDUCATOR, ORATOR, RELIGIOUS LEADER, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, FEMINIST AND BUSINESS WOMAN : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

BLACK             SOCIAL             HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                           Nannie Helen Burroughs

Nannie Helen Burroughs, by Rotograph Co., New York City, 1909.

Nannie Helen Burroughs, (May 2, 1878 – May 20, 1961) was an African-American educator, orator, religious leader, civil rights activist, feminist and businesswoman in the United States.^[1] She gained national recognition for her 1900 speech "How the Sisters Are Hindered from Helping," at the National Baptist Convention.

On October 19, 1909, she founded the National Training School for Women and Girls in Washington, D.C., which uniquely provided academic, religious and vocational classes for black girls and young women at a time when education was segregated in the South; she operated it until her death. It has since been renamed the Nannie Helen Burroughs School in her honor and provides coeducational classes for the elementary grades. Its Trades Hall, built in 1927-28, has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.                                                                                                                                                     Personal life

Early life

Nannie Helen Burroughs was born on May 2, 1878, in Orange, Virginia.^[2] Her parents were John and Jennie Burroughs. Her father was born as a free person of color and her mother was born into slavery in Virginia, the daughter of a slave. John Burroughs attended the Richmond Institute and became a Baptist preacher. He was a farmer and served as an itinerant preacher. Her mother worked as a cook before and after the American Civil War.

In 1883, Jennie Burroughs moved with her daughter Nannie, then five, to Washington D.C. so that the girl could be educated in its city schools. Burroughs' parents were associated with a small and fortunate class of free blacks and ex-slaves who possessed the energy and ability to begin working towards prosperity almost as soon as they were freed by the American Civil War.

Career

Burroughs holding Woman's National Baptist Convention banner.

After the American Civil War, black congregations had quickly withdrawn from white-dominated churches in the South to create churches independent of white supervision. They had a few before the war, but soon had many more. Within several years, they were setting up state Baptist associations and, by the end of the 19th century, national associations. The National Baptist Convention is the largest black Baptist denomination. In addition, such independent denominations as the African Methodist Episcopal Church planted new congregations among black communities in the South.

In 1896, Burroughs helped establish the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), one of a number of new associations of black women organized for philanthropic and charitable purposes. In 1897, she started work as an associate editor at the Christian Banner inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania.^[1]

In 1898 Burroughs moved to Louisville, Kentucky for a position as bookkeeper and editorial secretary for the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention, where she served until 1909. This was the national association of black Baptist churches. In 1902 she studied business. In 1907, she received an honorary A.M. degree from Eckstein-Norton University, a historically black college in Kentucky.^[3]

In 1909, Burroughs founded the National Training School for Women and Girls in Washington, D.C.^[4] 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.^[2] Burroughs was one of the first honorary members to be inducted into Delta Sigma Theta, a black sorority.

Burroughs believed domestic work should be professionalized and vocational. She trained her students to be become self-sufficient wage earners and expert homemakers. 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.^[5]

Burroughs became active in the National League of Republican Colored Women, trying to influence the national party on behalf of African Americans. She also participated in theNational Association of Wage Earners, working to influence legislation related to wages for domestic workers and other positions held by women.

She gained prominent supporters for her school; for instance, pastor Adam Clayton Powell, who led the large and influential Abyssinian Baptist Church of New York City, was on the board of trustees of the National Training School. He helped raise funds for construction in 1927-1928 of its Trades Hall building, which in 1991 was designated as a National Historic Landmark.^[4][6] In 1934, the school was renamed the National Trades and Professional School for Women. The school was inactive for a time during the Great Depression but Burroughs revived it, and it has operated to the present day.

In 1928, the Herbert Hoover administration appointed Burroughs as committee chairwoman related to Negro Housing, for his 1931 White House Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership. This was held soon after the Crash of 1929 and the beginning of the Great Depression.^[7]

Burroughs died in Washington, D.C., on May 20, 1961, of natural causes. The funeral was held at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church where she was a member.

Legacy and honors

• 1907, she received an honorary M.A. from Eckstein Norton University, a historically black college in Cane Spring, Bullitt County, Kentucky. (It merged with Simpson University in 1912.)^[8]
• In 1909, Burroughs founded the National Training School for Women and Girls in Washington, DC and operated it until her death after a short closure during the Great Depression. The school continues.
• 1976, this school was renamed the Nannie Helen Burroughs School in her honor. It has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.
• Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE, a street in the Deanwood neighborhood of Washington, DC, is named for her.
• The Burroughs Collection of papers is held by the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division. It consists of 110,000 items (1900–1963); bulk (1928–60), which contain material concerning her activities with the National Baptist Convention, National League of Republican Colored Women, and National Association of Wage Earners.^[3]
• In 1997 Burroughs was designated a Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project.^[9]