Burleigh helped support his family by various odd jobs: lighting gas streetlamps, selling newspapers and working as a printer's devil, as a coachman, and as a steward on Lake Erie steamboats.

His mother occasionally worked as a maid for the daughter of Burleigh Sr.'s employer when she held musicales (musical gatherings) in her home.

Burleigh served as a doorman when various famous musicians performed at those musicales, including Venezuelan pianist Teresa Carreño and Italian tenor Italo Campanini.

Although at first the Conservatory denied Burleigh the tuition scholarship he needed to be able to attend, citing him falling just below their audition standards, Mrs. MacDowell (the registrar) insisted that he be allowed to try his entrance exam again.

In the Symphony, a flute theme resembles the spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" that may well be among those Burleigh sang to Dvořák.

In 1922, another student of Dvořák, William Arms Fisher, wrote the spiritual-like song "Goin' Home" based on an English horn melody from the second movement (Largo) of the Symphony.

The following year, Burleigh sang in Dvořák's arrangement of Pennsylvania native Stephen C. Foster's classic "Old Folks at Home".

By the time Burleigh left Erie in January 1892, he was singing with the city's best vocalists at civic events and church gatherings.

Nine months after arriving in New York City, Burleigh appeared in two Grand Encampment Concerts at the Metropolitan Church in Washington, D.C., as "the celebrated Western baritone.

[9] In spite of the initial problems obtaining the appointment, Burleigh became close to many members during his long tenure as a soloist at the church.

In 1914, he was a founding member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), and received a seat on its board of directors in 1941.

Pallbearers included Hall Johnson, Noble Sissle, Eubie Blake, William C. Handy, and Cameron White.

[16] With the success of Roland Hayes, Marian Anderson, and Paul Robeson, among others, many of whom he had coached, Burleigh's seminal role in establishing African-American soloists on America's recital stages seemed eclipsed.

[17] In 1917, Burleigh received the Spingarn Medal, which the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) awards annually for outstanding achievement by an African American.

Works he edited or transcribed continue in the 1982 Hymnal of the Episcopal Church (United States), including No.

[19] In 2019, a committee was formed by Michelle Deal Winfield, State Committeewoman, 74th Assembly District to petition Community Board Six Manhattan for a street co-naming: Harry T. Burleigh Place.

In October 2021, U.S. Representative Carolyn B. Maloney entered the celebration of Henry Thacker "Harry" Burleigh into the Congressional Record Extension Remarks: Volume 167, Number 179.