Career and Community Life
Burke had a long career as an educator in English in academic programs in public high schools in Pennsylvania, and especially Washington, DC, where she spent most of her career. She was head of the academic department at Downing Institute in Pennsylvania. She then went to North Carolina where she taught at the State Normal School at Fayetteville to prepare new generations of teachers, considered one of the most important careers in the South.
Burke encouraged and taught generations of students through 30 years as an educator in the Washington, DC public school system. Although the schools were segregated, because the District of Columbia was then run directly by the Federal government, African American teachers were paid at the same scale as white teachers. The system attracted highly qualified teachers, especially for Dunbar High School, the academic high school for African Americans.
After Burke returned to Washington in 1912, she helped charter the Xi Omega alumnae chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha. She continued to contribute to the community through her activities with the sorority and her church. She died in Washington, D.C. in 1949.
Read more about this topic: Lillie Burke
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