Margaret Burroughs, a founder of the DuSable Museum of African American History, dies at 93

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Margaret Burroughs, an artist who co-founded one of the oldest African American history museums in the country, has died. She was 93.

Burroughs died Sunday in her sleep at her Chicago home, said Raymond Ward, a spokesman for the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago.

President Obama said in a statement that Burroughs was ‘widely admired for her contributions to American culture as an esteemed artist, historian, educator and mentor.’

Burroughs founded the museum with her husband and others on Chicago’s South Side in 1961.

The museum has artwork, exhibits on civil rights and a display on Chicago’s first black mayor, Harold Washington. It was named after Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, widely regarded as Chicago’s first permanent resident.

Read more at the Chicago Tribune: ‘Margaret Burroughs: Co-founder of DuSable Museum and prominent artist.’

-- Associated Press