James Dallas Burrus

James Dallas Burrus (14 October 1846 – 5 December 1928) was an American educator, druggist and philanthropist from Tennessee.

He was buried in Burrus Cemetery on his plantation Cherry Lane Acres, Rutherford County, Tennessee.

[3] After Burrus's nephew, Colonel James Camp Tappan, inherited the four slaves, he took them with him during his service in the Confederate Army.

In 1865, at the end of the Civil War, the Burrus family was in Marshall, Texas with what remained of Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi.

In Nashville, James and John worked as wait staff in hotels and began to save for college.

[2][3] To increase his income, James Burrus began teaching in the primary and secondary schools in Goodlettsville, Tennessee and in Arkansas.

They were the first blacks or people of color to earn a bachelor's degree from a liberal arts college south of the Mason–Dixon line.

Robinson and Burrus were engaged for a short period, but during much of this time she was touring in Europe with the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Robinson loaned Burrus money to attend graduate school at Dartmouth College, where he enrolled in 1877 to study mathematics.

When Fisk University needed funds in 1926 to remove a debt, during a capital campaign the Burrus brothers donated $1,000 (~$13,785 in 2023).

The announcement of his death and bequest made the front page of newspapers across the country in the United States.