gacy Margaret Burroughs (November 1, 1915 – November 21, 2010), was an American visual artist, writer, poet, educator, and arts organizer. She is best known for her print making. She co-founded the Ebony Museum of Chicago, now the DuSable Museum of African American History. An active member of the AfricanAmerican community, she also helped to establish the South Side Community Art Center, whose opening on May 1, 1941 was dedicated by the First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt. There at the age of 23 Burroughs served as the youngest member of its board of directors. A long-time educator, she spent most of her career at DuSable High School. Burroughs was a prolific writer, with her efforts directed toward the exploration of the Black experience and to children, especially to their appreciation of their cultural identity and to their introduction and Early life and education Burroughs was born Victoria Margaret Taylor in St. Rose, Louisiana, where her father worked as a farmer and laborer at a railroad warehouse and her mother as a domestic. The family moved to Chicago in 1920 when she was five years old. At an early age her mother encouraged her to pursue her interest in art. There she attended Englewood High School along with Gwendolyn Brooks, who in 1985-1986 served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (now U. S. Poet Laureate). As classmates, the two joined the NAACP Youth Council. She earned teacher’s certificates from Chicago Teachers College in 1937. She helped found the South 11 “Every individual wants to leave a legacy, to be remembered for something positive they have done for their community. Long after I’m dead and gone the [DuSable] museum will still be here. A lot of black museums have opened up, but we’re the only one that grew out of the indigenous black community. We weren’t started by anybody downtown; we were started by ordinary folks.” -Margaret Burroughs growing awareness of art. She is also credited with the founding of Chicago’s Lake Meadows Art Fair in the early 1950s.
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