Nannie Helen Burroughs

"At the dawn of the 20th century Black girls and women faced a harsh career landscape. Domestic labor and household employment-which was unregulated and the lowest paying occupation for women in the US labor economy-was one of the few options available to them to make a living. In response to this situation, in 1909 Nannie Helen Burroughs, the pioneering African American educator and civil rights leader, established the National Trade School for Women and Girls (NTS) in Washington D.C. The NTS would prove to be a revolutionary labor and educational initiative, helping pave the way for a broader transformation of the educational landscape for Black women and girls in the United States, while also redefining domestic labor as a profession where social justice for the Black community could be achieved. This book tells the story of the powerful labor movement that resulted from Burroughs's work at the National Trade School for Women and Girls (NTS). By doing so, it shines a light on a history that has been largely overlooked by scholars. It establishes Nannie Helen Burroughs as one of America's most influential labor leaders in the 20th century, and reveals the powerful lessons her work and ideas still offer for America's laborers, labor organizers, scholars, and racial justice activists today"--