Nannie Helen Burroughs School

Nannie Helen Burroughs was born in Orange, Virginia on May 2, 1879. She originally pursued a career as a teacher, but was turned away because of her darker complexion. She then turned to religious work with the National Baptist Convention (NBC), still the most prominent Black religious organization in the United States. Founded in 1895, the NBC focused greatly on uplifting the African American community through Christian values and actions. Burroughs quickly climbed her way up the ranks of the NBC and founded the Women’s Auxiliary. In addition to her work with the NBC and the school, Burroughs was a co-founder of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) and a prominent voice in the fight for Black women’s suffrage. In 1909, Burroughs fought significant opposition to found the National Training School for Women and Girls. Many in the NBC, such as Booker T. Washington, opposed the school on the grounds that it was financially unfeasible, while others opposed higher education for Black women, period. Burroughs made the school a reality through sheer force of will and raised the money for the school herself, accepting mostly small-dollar donations from Black women.  

            As the leader of a school by and for Black women, Burroughs wanted to promote Black women’s individuality and help her students find their own paths. She nicknamed her school “The School of the Three B’s” – the bible, bath, and broom. This statement encapsulated Burroughs’ hope for each of her pupils to keep “clean lives, clean bodies, and clean homes.” As the president of the school, Burroughs emphasized self-reliance, making students work to pay their tuition and teaching them to be versatile workers, able to fit into any sector of an unforgiving job market. 

            Lauded by African American leaders like Mary Church Terrell and Carter G. Woodson, Burroughs built an institution that taught Black girls the value of independence, hard work, and moral character. Graduates of the Nannie Helen Burroughs School found work in all sorts of career fields, with some even going on to higher education. Through her commitment to her faith and her work as an educator, Burroughs worked until her death to lift up members of her community and set an example of Black excellence. Burroughs’ chief mission with her school was to restore dignity to Black women through education and religious and professional development. Her school now houses the Progressive National Baptist Convention and continues to serve as a symbol of Black achievement in America.

Burroughs, Nannie Helen. “There Is Nobody Home.” Archives of Women's Political Communication. Iowa State University. Accessed October 14, 2019. https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/2019/09/27/there-is-nobody-home/. 

Jackson, Shantina Shannell. “’To Struggle and Battle and Overcome’: The Educational Thought of Nannie Helen Burroughs, 1875-1961.” UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2015. 

Taylor, Traki L. "’Womanhood Glorified’: Nannie Helen Burroughs and the National Training School for Women and Girls, Inc., 1909-1961." The Journal of African American History, Vol. 87 (Autumn, 2002): 390-402. 

“Trades Hall of National Training School for Women and Girls (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, March 19, 2019. https://www.nps.gov/places/national-training-school-for-women-and-girls.htm. 

Church Terrell, Mary. “The Progress and Problems of Colored Women - Jan. 11, 1920.” Archives of Women's Political Communication. Iowa State University, January 11, 1920. https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/2019/10/04/the-progress-and-problems-of-colored-women/.

“National Baptist Convention (NBC).” The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. Stanford University, June 5, 2018. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/national-baptist-convention-nbc.