In 1953 she was elected to the House of Assembly alongside Janet Jagan and Jane Phillips-Gay, becoming its first female members.
Burnham grew up on Pike Street in the Kitty district of Georgetown, where her father was a member of the village council and headteacher of the local Methodist school.
[1] In the 1953 elections to the House of Assembly, Burnham was a candidate of the People's Progressive Party (PPP) in Georgetown Central.
[2] In October 1957 the siblings left the PPP to establish the People's National Congress (PNC), with Forbes as leader and Jessie as an assistant secretary.
[3] After rejoining the PPP, she published a booklet in 1964 with the title Beware My Brother.