Media Contact:
Patricia Arnold
(773) 995-2388
pl-arnold@csu.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Co-founder of DuSable Museum honored with
Lifetime Achievement Award
CHICAGO (NOVEMBER 10, 2008) — One of Chicago’s legendary women civic leaders received a Lifetime Achievement Award on Friday, November 7 at the 7th Annual Chicago State University Alumni Award Celebration at the Oak Lawn Hilton. Dr. Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs was honored for her outstanding dedication to the arts, education and the community. She was one of nine award winners celebrated at the event.
Burroughs and her husband, the late Charles Burroughs, opened the DuSable Museum, the world’s first African-American history museum in the living room of their home in 1961. She also co-founded the South Side Community Art Center in 1939. Among its distinguished alumni are Gordon Parks, Charles White, and Archibald Motley. She established the Lake Meadows and Chatham Art Fairs and served on the Chicago Park District Board under three different mayors.
“She is an American icon,” said CSU President Frank G. Pogue. “I have admired her lifelong work to preserve and honor the history of African-Americans for many years and I was honored to present her with the Lifetime Achievement Award in person.”
Katéy Assem, Chicago State University’s Vice President for Institutional Advancement said Burroughs has touched the lives of so many people and has created programs and institutions that will be a part of her legacy for generations to come. “Dr. Burroughs is truly one of our great pioneers in the arts, in education and in civic leadership. She has given of herself throughout her life and continues to do so. We are very proud to call her one of our own.”
Her literary works include the poem, “What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black?” and children’s books including Jasper the Drummer Boy, and Did You Feed My Cow? Her art has been exhibited throughout the world and she has received numerous honors. In 2007, Dr. Burroughs established an endowed scholarship fund to provide scholarships for CSU students. She maintains a busy schedule that includes public speaking, international travel, teaching art and creative writing at Statesville Correctional Center, and ministering to prison inmates on Sundays.
A native of Louisiana, Dr. Burroughs attended Chicago’s Englewood High School, earned a teacher certificate from what was then Chicago Normal College in 1937, and later received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in arts education from the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as an honorary doctorate from Chicago State University in 2007. Burroughs taught art at DuSable High School from 1948 to 1968, then taught humanities at Wilson Junior College (now Kennedy-King College) before retiring from teaching in 1979.
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ABOUT CHICAGO STATE UNIVERSITY
Chicago State University was founded as a teacher training school in Blue Island, Illinois on September 2, 1867. Today, the university is a fully accredited public, urban institution located on 161-picturesque acres in a residential community on Chicago’s Southside. CSU is governed by a Board of Trustees appointed by the Governor of Illinois. The university’s five colleges—Health Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, and Pharmacy—offer 36 undergraduate and 25 graduate and professional degree-granting programs. CSU also offers an interdisciplinary Honors College for students in all areas of study and has a Division of Continuing Education and Non-Traditional Programs that offers extension courses, distance learning and not-for-credit programs to the entire Chicago community.