18d • Business Help & Strategy
They Said It Couldn’t Be Done. She Built It Anyway.
A room full of church men told her it couldn’t be done.
“Black Washingtonians aren’t going to fund a whole school for poor girls. You’re dreaming too big.”
The worst part? Some of the doubt came from her own people.
Nannie Helen Burroughs had no degree, no job in the D.C. school system that had already rejected her, and no wealthy backers. But she had a vision: a school for Black women and girls that taught academics, trades, and leadership.
So she did something they did not expect.
She got the National Baptist Convention to purchase six acres of land in Washington, D.C., then raised the funds not from rich white donors, but from Black churches, Black women, and Black children—nickels, dimes, and crumpled dollar bills.
In 1909, those “small” gifts opened the National Training School for Women and Girls, drawing students from across the country.
Welcome to Day 13 of Deleted History: Black Women Entrepreneurs They Prayed You’d Never Learn About.
What Black women entrepreneurs can steal from her playbook:
Turn “no” into infrastructure: She didn’t just move past rejection—she built the institution that would have hired her.
Let your people be your investors: She proved a community others dismissed could bankroll a vision that outlived her.
Build institutions, not just income: Her name is still on buildings and in records more than a century later.
If Nannie Helen Burroughs could build a school from nickels in 1909, you can learn to sell your brilliance in 2026.
That’s why Black Women Sell Live 2026 exists—to help Black women turn story, skill, and strategy into sales, clients, and legacy.
Your next “institution” might start with one decision.
Join the waitlist for Black Women Sell Live here: www.blackwomensellevent.com
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They Said It Couldn’t Be Done. She Built It Anyway.
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