An ongoing illustrative history study
This piece originally posted 10/26/2023
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"The ballot, wisely used, will bring to her the respect and protection that she needs. It is her weapon of moral defense. Under present conditions, when she appears in court in defence of her virtue, she is looked upon with amused contempt. She needs the ballot to reckon with men who place no value upon her virtue, and to mould healthy public sentiment in favor of her own protection."
Say hello to D.C.'s own Nannie Helen Burroughs: teacher, suffragist, union advocate, and civil rights pioneer. Born in 1879/1880 Virginia to formerly enslaved parents, Burroughs later moved to D.C., graduating from M Street High School and making the acquaintance of comtemporaries like Mary Church Terrell (Lesson #29 in this series). Burroughs became deeply involved in the dual causes of womens' suffrage and civil rights, mentored by Walter Henderson Brooks (look for a future lesson in this Series about him), who was then a pastor at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church. (This church is itself something of a legacy --among other things the building is also considered to be the birthplace of the National Association of Colored Women; see again Lesson #29 about Mary Church Terrell.)
Later Burroughs founded the Womens' Convention of the National Baptist Convention and served as its director for 13 years. Burroughs and her fellow D.C. resident Mary McLeod Bethune (Lesson #49 in this series), also organized and formed the National Association of Wage Earners. Burroughs also cultivated a close relationship with fellow native Virginian Maggie Lena Walker (Lesson #37 in this series), who was herself a staunch supporter of labor rights for Black women. Burroughs rose to prominence as an outspoken voice for Black women; arguing that they should have the same opportunities for education and for job training. Such was her gift for writing and for oration that she was appointed by President Herbert Hoover to chair a special committee on housing for African Americans.
Perhaps Burroughs' greatest accomplishment (certainly the one of which she was the proudest), was the funding and eventual founding of the National Training School for Women And Girls in 1909. Encouraged and advocated by key Washington figures such as historian Carter G. Woodson (look for a future lesson in this Series about him, as well), the school was notable for never having solicited money from white donors. Burroughs wanted each student to become "the fiber of a sturdy moral, industrious and intellectual woman," and over the course of the next 20 years, the school grew into a rigorous curriculum of academic and vocational courses; offering a unique combination of educational opportunities for Black young women and girls. At the time the school offered academic training equivalent to the upper grades of high school and community college, religious instruction, and training in domestic arts and vocations; and perhaps most importantly, the very first American institution to offer all of these opportunities within a single educational space.
Burroughs remained a fierce advocate for civil rights her entire life; during the Montgomery bus boycott in 1956 she wrote to Martin Luther King's mother, Alberta, expressing her interest in the "calm, sure way that Junior is standing up for right and righteousness." Burroughs died in 1961 and her funeral was held at the aforementioned Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, and in 1964 the school was renamed the Nannie Helen Burroughs School. Today the school's Trades Hall is a National Historic Landmark and houses the Progressive National Baptist Convention.
(Nannie Helen Burroughs clearly predicted Internet Clickbait Lists long before it was cool; check out 12 Things The Negro Must Do For Himself at http://www.nburroughsinfo.org/files/47096873.pdf, and also 12 Things Whites Must Stop Doing at http://www.nburroughsinfo.org/files/47096865.pdf)
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