National Training School for Women and Girls

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Founded in 1909, the National Training School for Women and Girls educated Black women from around the world. Unlike other prominent Black schools, such as the Tuskegee Institute, the founders did not request money from white donors. Nannie Helen Burroughs, the daughter of formerly enslaved people, piloted the project. Burroughs wanted each student to become “the fiber of a sturdy moral, industrious and intellectual woman.”

Burroughs built the campus of academic, residential and religious buildings and created a vigorous and demanding curriculum of academic and vocational courses. The National Training School offered a unique combination of educational opportunities for African-American young women and girls. The school offered academic training equivalent to the upper grades of high school and community college, religious instruction, and training in domestic arts and vocations. It was the first American institution to offer all of these opportunities within a single educational space.

In 1914, the school constructed the Lincoln Memorial Arch and entry gate to the school grounds at the corner of Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE and 50th Street NE in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of President Lincoln. 

The National Training School for Women and Girls has been the headquarters of the Progressive National Baptist Convention since 1978. 

National Historic Landmark: July 17, 1991
National Register: July 17, 1991