By Garry Blanson
Nannie H. Burroughs was born on May 2, 1879, in Orange, Virginia, to John and Jennie Burroughs.
In 1883, sometime after the passing of one of her sisters and her father. Nannie and her mother moved to Washington, D.C. to live with her mother’s sister. During the early 1890s, Nannie attended M Street High School, where she met two of her early role models, Mary Church Terrell and Anna J. Cooper (who were both educators and highly involved in civil rights as well as women’s suffrage).
After graduating from M Street High School in 1896, Nannie went on to accomplish many great things in her lifetime. A few of them were her speech at the 1900 National Baptist Convention, her “47 Years of Dedicated Service” to the National Baptist Convention, being hired as secretary of the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention, being President of the Women’s Convention auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention (she served as President for 13 years), the founding of The National School for Women and Girls in Washington D.C., and her work with the NAACP (truly, these were just a few of her many, many achievements).
Tragically, on May 20, 1961, Nannie H. Burroughs was found dead in her home in Washington, D.C. of natural causes.
In 1964, the school that she founded, The National School for Women and Girls, was changed to “The Nannie Burroughs School” in her honor.
Even though she has long been gone from amongst us, Nannie left behind a legacy that is still inspiring Black Women, Men, and Black Youth of all ages!
