Nannie Helen Burroughs (May 2, 1879 – May 20, 1961) was an educator, orator, religious leader, civil rights activist, feminist, and businesswoman in the United States.

[1] Her speech "How the Sisters Are Hindered from Helping," at the 1900 National Baptist Convention in Virginia, instantly won her fame and recognition.

There she met her role models Anna J. Cooper and Mary Church Terrell, who were active in the suffrage movement and civil rights.

[7] Though it is not documented that she was explicitly told, Burroughs was refused the position with the implication that her skin was too dark — they preferred lighter-complexioned black teachers.

[9] From 1898 to 1909, Burroughs was employed in Louisville, Kentucky, as an editorial secretary and bookkeeper of the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention.

Because of her contribution to the NACW, the National Association of Wage Earners was founded to draw the public's attention to the dilemma of African-American women.

Burroughs' other memberships included Ladies' Union Band, Saint Lukes, Saturday Evening, and Daughters of the Round Table Clubs.

In the 1920s, she wrote The Slabtown District Convention and Where is My Wandering Boy Tonight?, both one-act plays for amateur church theatrical groups.

[13] The popularity of the comedic, satiric Slabtown necessitated multiple printings through the succeeding century,[13][14] although sometimes the wording is updated as needed by successive productions.

[4] During the first 40 years of the 20th century, young African-American women were being prepared by the National Training School to "uplift the race" and obtain a livelihood.

Since this was not a topic that was discussed in regular historical curriculum, Burroughs found it necessary to teach African American women to be proud of their race.

[16] With the incorporation of industrial education into training in morality, religion, and cleanliness, Nannie Helen Burroughs and her staff needed to resolve a conflict central to many African-American women.

[4] Notwithstanding its broad curriculum and emphasis on racial uplift, there were people who perceived the school largely in terms of domestic service.

The article even made a veiled allusion to slavery: "What fine Southern women conveyed to their house servants long ago had seemed likely to be lost" and adding that a student who fails to meet standards, "will not get 'whipped' but she'd rather be than fall under Miss Burroughs' displeasure.