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James Dallas Burrus (14 October 1846 – 5 December 1928) was an African-American educator, druggist and philanthropist.
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Life and times
James Dallas Burrus was born at Murfreesboro, Rutherford County, Tennessee, the son of William C. J. Burrus and Nancy Burrus. The couple had three sons: James Dallas Burrus, John Houston Burrus, and Preston Robert Burrus.
William C. J. Burrus (WCJ Burrus) was a plantation owner, lawyer, and politician. Nancy Burrus was a slave owned by WCJ Burrus, from mulatto and American Indian extraction that had been bought at a slave auction in Nashville. William C. J. Burrus was born on 28 December 1815 and died on 25 May 1859. He was buried in Burrus Cemetery on his estate Cherry Lane Acres, Rutherford County, Tennessee. The will of WCJ Burrus made provision for his slave wife to inherit his estate. The courts of Rutherford County, Tennessee did not recognize the provision or the will. The estate, Nancy Burrus and her three sons became the property of a relative of WCJ Burrus. After the Civil War, Nancy Burrus married a Mr. Brown and became Nancy Brown.
In 1928, Burrus died on a streetcar at Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee. The certificate of death listed the cause as chronic myocarditis and contributory factor as old age. His occupation at the time of death was druggist and he was single. Burrus was the first negro to earn a bachelor of arts degree from a college south of the Mason-Dixon line. In his will he left $100,000 to Fisk University. The announcement of his death made the front page of newspapers across the country in the United States.
Civil War period
WCJ Burrus died just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. His wife and sons were inherited by a relative of WCJ Burrus, Colonel James Camp Tappan. Colonel Tappan was an officer in the Confederate Army. The relationship of Tappan to WCJ Burrus was through marriage. Tappan married Mary Elizabeth Anderson on 26 June 1854. Mary Elizabeth was the daughter of Judge Samuel Anderson and Elizabeth Burrus Anderson of Rutherford County, Tennessee. Elizabeth Burrus (1802–1850) was the sister of William C.J. Burrus. Their parents were Joseph Burrus (1762–1821) and Sophia Rucker (1775–1835).
Nancy Burrus was brought into service as a cook and the three sons as man servants. The family served together with their uncle who traveled across Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas in service with the Confederacy. In 1865, at the end of the Civil War, the Burrus family was in Marshall, Texas with what remained of Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi.
The Emancipation Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln delivered the family into freedom. They made their way to Shreveport, Louisiana, then to New Orleans, and eventually to Memphis, Tennessee. In Memphis, James and John were able to find work. Before long the family moved to Nashville. In Nashville, James and John found work as wait staff in hotels and began to save for college.
Training and education
To increase his income, James Burrus began a career in African American education by teaching in the primary and secondary schools in Goodlettsville, Tennessee and in Arkansas. In 1867, Burrus and his brother John enrolled in Fisk University. James was to study mathematics and John would study Greek. In 1875, Fisk University graduated James Burrus, John Houston Burrus, Virginia Eliza Walker and America W. Robinson as the first class of Fisk University. These classmates were the first blacks to earn a bachelor's degree from a liberal arts college south of the Mason–Dixon line. At Fisk, the faculty consisted mainly of missionaries that tried to persuade James to enter the religious ministry, but he was not to be persuaded. The instructors encouraged Burrus to continue his studies. Robinson and Burrus were engaged for a short period, but they broke it off by 1878. In the meantime, Robinson loaned him monies to attend graduate school at Dartmouth College where he enrolled in 1877 to study mathematics. In 1879, he was awarded the Master of Arts in mathematics. This was the first instance of an African-American to receive a master of arts degree in the United States.
Professional career
In May 1881, Burrus accepted an appointment at Fisk University as the first professor of mathematics. In 1882, he received an appointment at Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College in Mississippi as professor of mathematics and superintendent of the college farm.
Philanthropy
Throughout his life, Burrus was a donor to Fisk University. Beginning around 1915, Burrus donated property worth $7,000 to Fisk University. In 1915, a gift of $600 was made. In 1917, James and Preston Burrus together made a contribution to Fisk in the amount of $112 to the Fisk Endowment Fund. An 85 acre farm was given to the school in 1922 by James and Preston. When Fisk University needed funds to remove a debt, during a campaign to raise money the Burrus brothers donated $1,000 in 1926. Upon James Burrus’s death in 1928, his will stipulated that his estate be left to Fisk University. At the time of his death, his estate consisted of 85 houses, stocks and bonds valued at over $120,000.