Twelve things a Negro must do for Himself written by Nannie Helen Burroughs 1883 -1961

By Attila Honey

‘Twelve Things The Negro Must Do For Himself’ was a booklet sold in the early 1900’s. The retail price for this booklet was 10 cents and written by a great Afro American woman. http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/burroughs-nannie-helen-1883-1961. This  incredible woman might have gone unnoticed were it not for Gary Johnson’s grandmother who gave him her original copy of the booklet which was in mint condition. Many attempts have been made to find this booklet but no doubt it is simply out of print.

Nannie Helen Burroughs was a great American and a pioneer both in spirit and fortitude. To learn more about her, I suggest a good site would be http://www.nhburroughs.org.

No doubt the title alone will be enough to produce enough vitriol to strip paint off furniture, however I am so awed by this woman that I’m going to print the subject matter by title and then invite the reader to go to the site, http://www.blackmeninamerica.com/12.htm to read each point that she makes in depth. Sadly, racism is such big business in America today that no doubt, her words will fall on unfertile ground. But these are the headings for Nannie Helen Burrough’s ‘Twelve Things The Negro Must Do For Himself.’ You can make your own determination as to whether you feel as I do that she is a great heroine of any age – or just someone trying to cheat the Afro American out of his due. You be the judge. For myself, I would have changed the word Negro to every man and woman.

12 Things The Negro Must Do For Himself

1. The Negro must learn to put first things first. The first things are: education, development of character traits, a trade and home ownership.
2. The Negro must stop expecting God and white folks to do for him what he can do for himself. It is the ‘Divine Plan’ that the strong shall help the weak, but even God does not do for man what man can do for himself. The Negro will have to do exactly what Jesus told the man ( in John5:8) to do – Carry his own load and ‘Take up your bed and walk.’
3. The Negro must keep himself, his children and his home clean and make the surroundings in which he lives comfortable and attractive.
4. The Negro Must learn to dress more appropriately for work and for leisure.
5. The Negro must make his religion an everyday practice and not just a Sunday-Go-To-Meeting emotional affair.
6. The Negro must highly resolve to wipe out mass ignorance.
7. The Negro must stop charging his failures up to his ‘color’ and to white people’s attitude.
8. The Negro must overcome his bad job habits.
9. He must improve his conduct in public places.
10. The Negro must learn how to operate business for people – not for Negro people only.
11. The average so-called educated Negro will have to come down out of the air.  He is too inflated over nothing. He needs an experience similar to the one that Ezekiel had (Ezekiel 3:145-19.) And he must do what Ezekiel did.
12. The Negro must stop forgetting his friends. Remember.

I think that Nannie Helen Burroughs would roll over in her grave if she saw how the fire of racism is fanned today, the crippling of a race through hand outs, and the never ending ‘it’s them against us attitude’.

Why do we never hear of this great woman? She never married but rather devoted her entire life to being an educator, orator, religious leader and businesswoman who moved to Washington, D.C. as a young woman to take advantage of the city’s superior educational opportunities. She achieved all of this in a true racist environment.  She opened a school for Afro American girls to prepare them for a productive adult life. There is so much more I could write about her – my only regret is that I did not know such an amazing human being.