About a century ago a strong-willed and highly-articulate visionary named Nannie Helen Burroughs, a native Virginian, persuaded her fellow African-American Baptists to establish a school for girls and young women.
She dreamed of a self-help educational institution which would provide practical training. She kept dreaming, and in 1907 she hired a horse and buggy and traveled about the greater Washington, D.C., area in search of an appropriate site. From the foot of a hill in the section known as Lincoln Heights she saw an old house and barn which was for sale. She declared the property to be “God's Hill” and immediately set to work to meet the asking price of $6,500.
In September 1907, the women of the National Baptist Convention dedicated the site for the new National Training School for Women and Girls. In time, Miss Burroughs developed a diversified program, offering training in commercial science, culinary arts, cosmetology, printing, laundering and dressmaking. She included instruction in reading, spelling, penmanship and grammar. She opened a general store for the community and added a laundry. She liked to say that her school emphasized cleanliness and godliness or, as Miss Burroughs would say, “the three Bs”-the Bible, the broom and the bathtub!
She took young black females and gave them an opportunity to improve upon themselves. Some may have felt that the challenge was beyond them, but Miss Burroughs would insist: “We specialize in the wholly impossible!”
Nannie Helen Burroughs died in 1961. But her school continues. Today it is known simply as the Nannie Helen Burroughs School and it still occupies the crest of God's Hill.
The next issue of Heritage Seekers, the new children's magazine which teaches Baptist heritage, will feature Baptists working together to improve life for others. Miss Burroughs will have major coverage in the issue. In preparation, Jon Messer, editor of Heritage Seekers, and this columnist visited the Burroughs School. We got a little lost in Washington traffic, took a wrong turn but knew we were right when we spied Nannie Helen Burroughs Street, and at its intersection with 50th Street, there was God's Hill.
We interviewed Shirley G. Hayes, a dedicated educator, who is principal of the school, which now is an elementary school spanning grades K-6. The school enrolls about 150 pupils. The principal handpicked most of the teachers and declares that her faculty believes that they have “died and gone to teacher heaven” because the classes are small, the students well-behaved, the parents supportive and the paperwork at a minimum.
Shirley Hayes grew up in the neighborhood and remembers looking up the hill but never recalls actually visiting the school. She also attended the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, which also was Miss Burroughs' church; but the two women, separated by the generations, never knew each other.
Shirley Hayes became a teacher in the Washington public schools, and for 23 years, was a principal. When she retired in 1992, a former colleague who was on the board of the Burroughs School telephoned and asked if she would become principal on an interim basis for six months. Now, 13 years later and still principal, she remains enthusiastic about the mission of the school.
“I learned that private schools are very different from public schools. In the public schools, you would call the personnel office or building and grounds or the finance office. In a private school, you are responsible for everything! If a toilet breaks, a light goes out, if you need to hire someone, you do it!” Shirley Hayes describes Miss Burroughs as “a roll-up-your-sleeves kind of lady who worked,” and in many ways, Shirley Hayes is a modern-day soul mate of Miss Burroughs. She also admits that the school is “a nice environment” and adds, “If I were not the principal, I still would want to work here!”
There are other differences between private and public schools. Mrs. Hayes observes. “The world out there is different from the world in here. The school is a nurturing environment, close and loving. The world outside is not like that, but the children also need to learn to function in the outside world. I have had parents cry when it is time for their children to leave the sixth grade. They don't want them to go into that outside world.”
Another sharp difference is in the area of religion. The school is a private school under the ownership of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, which is headquartered on the property. As such, it can teach freely about God and every child, even in the nursery, has his or her own Bible. There are monthly chapel programs.
Today the school's mission statement declares that it provides “students with a strong academic program in a nurturing, safe, Christian environment.” It continues, “The school promotes cultural awareness, creative expression and an appreciation for the arts, which will enable students to become productive citizens in the global society.” Miss Burroughs would be pleased with all that is happening on God's Hill.
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies. He can be reached at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.