- Kimberley Guillemet
- Sep 1, 2022
Nannie Helen Burroughs was born on May 2, 1879, in Orange, Virginia, to John and Jennie Burroughs, both former slaves. She was the eldest of five children. After the death of her younger sisters and her father, Ms. Burroughs and her mother relocated to Washington, D.C. where there were better opportunities for employment and education.
Upon graduating from M Street High School with honors in 1896, Ms. Burroughs sought work as a domestic science teacher in the District of Columbia Public Schools. Despite her qualifications, she was refused the position because her skin was “too black.” She was advised that they preferred lighter-complexioned Black teachers.
Ms. Burroughs later wrote that after that experience, “[a]n idea was struck out of the suffering of that disappointment — that I would some day have a school here in Washington that school politics had nothing to do with, and that would give all sorts of girls a fair chance. It came to me like a flash of light, and I knew I was to do that thing when the time came.”
Ms. Burroughs continued to work and apply herself. She was employed as an editorial secretary and bookkeeper of the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention. Committed to educating and inspiring young Black women and helping them understand their worth and value, Ms. Burroughs opened the National Training School in 1908, a school dedicated to the education of Black women. The school’s motto read: “Work. Support thyself. To thine own powers appeal.”
In the first few years of its existence, the school provided evening classes for women who had no other means of education. There were only 31 students. However, after time, and due to its exceptional reputation, the school eventually attracted women from all over the nation. Ms. Burroughs required all students to take a history course that was dedicated to learning about influential African Americans, since this topic was excluded from general historical curriculum in the U.S. at the time.
The school was only the beginning of Ms. Burroughs’ long and illustrious career as an educator, orator, businesswoman, religious leader and activist. She helped found the National Association of Colored Women, was appointed by President Herbert Hoover to chair a special committee on housing for African Americans, founded the Women's Convention (serving from 1900 to 1947), and acted as a central figure in the network of African American suffragists.
After dedicating her life to educating and uplifting the overlooked of American society, Ms. Burroughs passed away on May 20, 1961, in Washington D.C. After her death, her school was renamed the Nannie Helen Burroughs School in her honor.
Known for her wisdom and insight, she was quoted as saying, “Education and justice are democracy’s only life insurance.”
This text is excerpted from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nannie_Helen_Burroughs,
https://www.azquotes.com/author/24387-Nannie_Helen_Burroughs. To read Ms. Burroughs’ speeches, visit: https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/directory/nannie-helen-burroughs/.
- Kimberley Guillemet
- Aug 31, 2022
― Nannie Helen Burroughs
I often hear well-meaning people intimating that people of certain socioeconomic positions, ethnic/racial groups and/or those who have not attained certain levels of education should not be expected to persevere, achieve or overcome. The words may not be spelled out that plainly, but that is the crux of the sentiment.
I think people believe that we do others a favor when we lower society’s expectations for them as a whole. We do not.
Nannie Helen Burroughs knew that. At a time when African Americans were not permitted to freely and openly access education in this country, Ms. Burroughs not only dedicated her life to educating African Americans, she specifically focused on educating African-American women--perhaps the most marginalized, disenfranchised and underserved group in the country at the time.
However, Ms. Burroughs didn’t educate these women from a place of sympathy, pity or lowered expectations. She was quite clear in her expectation that all of her students would achieve. The school’s motto read: “Work. Support thyself. To thine own powers appeal.” Ms. Burroughs believed that her students did not need to wait to be saved or to be helped by those better situated. She taught them that they were organically and naturally capable.
We can learn a lot from Ms. Nannie Burroughs. Women, particularly women of color, still face hurdles in professional and educational environments that others do not. However, we know that we cannot be defined by what others think about us. We cannot be limited by what they say, do, or believe. We should not look for or expect external validation. Nannie Burroughs never got mainstream validation and yet she persevered. And had she not, generations of Black women would not have received an education.
Notwithstanding what anyone thinks about who you are, or what you can achieve, know that you descend from greatness. You can do anything you put your mind to. You do not need the help or validation of others.
Power is in your DNA.
- Kimberley Guillemet
- Aug 1, 2022
― Kimberley Baker Guillemet
I’ve been going through an analysis lately of determining my point of maximum efficiency and productivity. I believe that a person should go hard, that they should run with perseverance the race set before them. If we’ve been assigned a task, we should see it through to completion and we should do it exceedingly well. On the other hand, when we go too hard, there is indeed a point of diminishing returns. It is imperative to find the appropriate balance.
Continuing with the analogy of a race, let’s envision ourselves as runners. Track and Field athletes are quite intentional about their training regimen, as well as the timing and the level of effort they expend at various points during any given race. Depending on the type of race, there are points during the race when they give maximum effort and points at which they do not. Both the periods of maximum effort and reduced effort are key to optimal performance during the race; and after the race is over, adequate rest and recovery are imperative to ensure overall health.
How do we apply this to our lives? How do we find that balance? How do we find the sweet spot that produces maximum efficiency? On one hand, it’s important to fully exert ourselves at times--to do things with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, but on the other, it’s important to rest and recover. Here I must acknowledge that I have not been very successful at engaging in rest and recovery. It has been a lifelong challenge for me, partially because I legitimately have difficulty finding time to rest and partially because I have difficulty giving myself permission to rest.
I tell myself that I will try to rest, but when I am short on time and I start prioritizing, time for rest is the first to get cut. This is the worst thing to do because I find myself exhausted and frustrated and by no means ready to start the next cycle of work all over again.
What it has taken me a long time to learn is this: Rest must be non-negotiable.
In that vein, I have decided that I will take a cue from one of my daughters’ favorite characters, Yoda: “Do or do not. There is no try.” My goal is no longer to try to rest, it is to rest. Full stop.
To you, dear readers, I challenge you with the same instruction: find rest.
