WRITTEN BY: CaReese Mukulu

When I was younger, I used to dream of time travel, especially being able to go to the future. While we haven’t found a way to travel to the future, we can certainly influence it.

We can even influence the futures of others—even whole generations.

This is exactly what Nannie Helen Burroughs has done. This woman born in 19th century Virginia has influenced my life in 2026.

Her STORY

Nannie Helen Burroughs was born on May 2, 1879, to John and Jennie Burroughs, a formerly enslaved couple living in Orange, Virginia. She and her mother relocated to Washington, D.C., upon the death of her father. Burroughs excelled in her studies and graduated with honors from M Street High School (now Paul Laurence Dunbar High School).

Given her academic achievements, Burroughs applied for a Washington D.C. public school teaching position. It is implied that she was denied because her skin was too dark. Instead, from 1898 to 1909, Burroughs worked in Louisville, Kentucky as a bookkeeper and editorial secretary of the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention. During this time, she established the Women’s Industrial Club, which provided courses in domestic science and management. She was also instrumental in founding the Women’s Convention of the National Baptist Convention. Burroughs served as president of that convention for thirteen years.

Finally, Nannie opened the National Training School for Women and Girls in 1908, offering evening classes to women with no access to education. She began with 31 students, who received instruction from Burroughs herself.

Nannie Burroughs is a shining example of pushing past adversity. When denied a seat at the table, she built her own. When her skin color and social status were obstacles, Burroughs said that "the die was cast [to] beat and ignore both until death."

And that’s exactly what she did: Burroughs opened her own school to educate and train the poor, working African American women she cared so deeply for.

She did not let naysayers stop her. She used small donations from black women and children in the community to fund the school despite the skepticism of Civil rights leader Booker T. Washington, who didn’t believe African Americans would donate.

In addition to being an educator, Nannie Burroughs was a writer, an international speaker, a religious leader, a businesswoman, a civil rights activist, and an advocate for women’s rights. In her book, Twelve Things the Negro Must Do, she famously said that, “High standards can be contagious. But it doesn’t necessarily happen through osmosis. Sometimes you have to budge people into doing the right thing—either by example or in a more obvious way.” Burroughs lived these words and brought about change through faithful Christian living, using her God-given intelligence, and showing love for her neighbor.

In addition to her work on behalf of women, Nannie Burroughs gave herself to improving the lives of African Americans. She was a friend and mentor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and worked on a special project under President Herbert Hoover to address housing for African Americans.

During the 1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott, she commended Dr. King for his poise and confidence as he demonstrated what it meant to truly live the truth. She said, “people, a vast majority of people, are fakers and shakers when it comes to serving their God. Sure, they may be able to quote scripture. They can clutch their Bibles and Torahs and Korans and put on the face of piety, but very few people actually live the truth of their faith.”

Burroughs’ work and influence extended far beyond Washington, D.C.,

In 1905, she delivered the keynote address at the First Baptist World Alliance Conference in Hyde Park, London before an audience of 18,000 people.
In 1934, she was the first woman to deliver the commencement speech at Tuskegee Institute.
In 1943, she gave a national NBC radio address to soldiers fighting abroad. Strangely, there is no record of the event in the National Broadcasting Company archives.

Nannie Burroughs died on May 20, 1961, leaving a legacy of advancement and opportunity for women and girls.

Making HERstory

My family has benefited directly from Nannie Burroughs’ influence.

I was raised in a Baptist church on the south side of Chicago. Each year, we participated in the National Baptist Convention (now called the National Baptist Convention, USA) annual meeting, which offers sessions specifically for women. My grandmother, Lennice Rials, taught in the National Baptist Convention, USA, where she was known for teaching the class “How the Bible Came to Be.” My grandmother paved the way for my aunts to be Bible teachers, and for me to teach the Bible myself.

Nannie Burroughs cast a vision and built a structure that has helped to raise up three generations of Bible teachers in my family alone.

Though she has greatly influenced the lives of many, much of Nannie Helen Burroughs’ work has been forgotten. Her legacy does live on in Mary Alice Dorsett, a former student at The National Trade and Women's School for Women and Girls who preserved her teachings and continued Burroughs’ work. There is also a street named in her honor in Washington, DC (Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE). As we honor Nannie Helen Burroughs this Women’s History Month, let us also remember her wisdom and continue her work. May we live the truth of our faith as Nannie Helen Burroughs did.

Nannie Burroughs charted a new path for women in education, advocacy, and in the Christian community. She is one of many luminaries who inspires me, the community at Women Speakers Collective, and countless women around the world to keep working, organizing, and advocating until every woman has opportunity and until every woman is heard.

This is how you influence the future of generations to come.

HERstory Makers: Nannie Helen Burroughs

HERstory Makers: Susanna Wesley