Williana Burroughs: Communist housing organizer

Williana Burroughs was a dynamic and dedicated communist in Depression-era Harlem. Bringing her radical politics into the struggles Black Harlemites faced, and vice versa, Burroughs helped establish trust between the Communist Party and the community. And she fought so that her own comrades would amplify the voices of Black working-class women. Born Williana Jones in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1882, “Liane” grew up in poverty. Her mother, formerly enslaved and recently widowed, moved the family to New York City when Williana was still a young child. Williana’s mother found a job as a live-in domestic worker, but like many women in her position, she was forced to make hard concessions to keep that job. No children were allowed, so Williana and her siblings wound up spending several years in an orphanage, with occasional visits from their mother. Throughout the years, Burroughs proved to be a top student, and in 1903 graduated from Hunter College (then New York City Normal College) with teaching credentials. She became politicized through teaching classes of mostly impoverished Black and immigrant students, and was eventually recruited into the communist wing of of the New York City Teachers Union. It was here that Burroughs began to develop radical organizing skills. She joined the Communist Party in 1926, where she worked on issues ranging from housing to labor, writing for various communist and Black publications. At the time, Burroughs and other Black women communists felt that the Party was not placing the importance it should on organizing Black women. Together, they demanded a greater voice within the Party and greater attention to their struggles in Harlem and nationwide. From this initiative to recognize the specific oppressions Black women faced under capitalism, Burroughs, along with her comrades, built movements addressing the needs of Harlem’s most oppressed. Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/williana-burroughs-communist-housing-organizer/