Margaret Taylor Burroughs
Printmaker
Born on November 1, 1917, as Victoria Margaret Taylor in small town St. Rose, Louisiana, Margaret Taylor became a printmaking icon in large city Chicago, Illinois with a legacy in the black arts and civil rights movement. There she was formally educated and earned teacher’s certificates from Chicago Teachers College in 1937 (Estate of Margaret Burroughs). After receiving her Bachelor of Art in Art Education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1946 Burroughs taught at DuSable High School from 1946 to 1969. She had a lengthy professional career, but her most acclaimed accomplishments are the foundation of the South Side Chicago Art Center SSCAC (1939) and the DuSable Museum (1961). The SSCAC provided a social center, gallery, and studio to showcase African American artists, while the DuSable Museum started in her home with husband Charles Burrough’s pieces. As a printmaker, sculptor, and writer herself Burrough’s understood the importance of having a place to exhibit and sell your work…
Portrait of artist and educator Dr. Margaret Burroughs at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 1971.
Photo by Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images