“I am but one, but I am one; I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do—and what I ought to do, I will do.”
~Dr. Margaret Burroughs
In this episode, your host, the Professor, Dr. Crystal Moten discusses Dr. Margaret Burroughs, who lived from 1917 until 2010. Dr. Burroughs is well known in Chicago and in the museum sector for helping to found what is now known as the DuSable Museum of African American history. Dr. Burroughs wasn’t only a museum founder, she was also a poet, an artist, an art historian and in educator. In this episode, the Professor introduces you to Dr. Burroughs, focusing on the 1950s and 1960s. She talks about Dr. Burroughs’ dedication to Black History despite the repressive time in which she lived and examines what drove her to start the museum in 1961.
Mentioned in the episode:
- What Shall I Tell My Children Who are Black, Dr. Margaret Burroughs
- “The Intersections of Anti-Blackness and Anti-Communism,” interview by Left Voice’s Olufemi Taiwo with Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly
Homework
- Watch WTTW Documentary, which includes Dr. Burroughs, DuSable to Obama: Chicago’s Black Metropolis
- Research Dr. Burroughs’ contributions as a visual artist.
- On Facebook or Twitter, share with me a piece of Dr. Burroughs’ art that you like and why.
Further Reading and Resources
- Life with Margaret, The Official Autobiography of Dr. Margaret T.G. Burroughs by Dr. Margaret T. G. Burroughs
- Black Public History in Chicago: Civil Rights Activism from World War II into the Cold War by Ian Rocksborough-Smith
- The Black Shoals: Offshore Formations of Black and Native Studies byTiffany Lethabo King
- Everything Man: The Form and Function of Paul Robeson by Shana Redmond
Go do some homework and tell me what you have learned!
