Lucy Burns - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Lucy Burns was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Irish Catholic family. She was described by fellow National Woman’s Party member Inez Haynes Irwin as “blue-eyed and fresh-complexioned; dimpled; and her head is burdened, even as Alice Paul’s, with an enormous weight of hair.” She was extremely beautiful, and lewd men always treated her disrespectfully. She was a gifted student and first attended Packer Collegiate Institute, or what was originally known as the Brooklyn Female Academy, for second preparatory school in 1890. Packer Collegiate Institute prided itself on “teaching girls to be ladies,” and they emphasized religious education while advocating more liberal ideals such as educating “the mind to habits of thinking with clearness and force.” Burns also met one of her lifelong role models, Laura Wylie, while attending Packer Collegiate Institute. Wylie was one of the first women to go to Yale University Graduate School. Burns also attended Columbia University, Vassar College, and Yale University before becoming an English teacher.

Burns taught at Erasmus High School in Brooklyn for two years. While Burns enjoyed the educational field, she generally found the experience to be frustrating and wanted to continue her own studies. In 1906, at age twenty-seven, she moved to Germany to resume her studies in language. In Germany, Burns studied at the Universities of Bonn and Berlin from 1906 to 1909. Burns later moved to the United Kingdom, where she enrolled at Oxford University to study English. Burns was fortunate enough to have a very extensive educational background because her father, Edwards Burns, supported her and financed her international education.