Virginia Marie Burke was born in Hopedale, Massachusetts on May 19, 1916. She graduated
from Hopedale High School in 1934. She received her B.S. from Worcester State College in
1938, her M.A. from Boston University in 1942, and her Ed.D. from Columbia University in
1956. She taught English and foreign languages in high schools in Massachusetts from
1938-1946. She started as an instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1956,
and remained with the University until her death in 1978.
She was an active member of the Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English, serving as the
organization's president in 1964. She was also active in the National Council of Teachers of
English, serving as the chair of the Committee on Convention Newsletters from 1959 to 1962.
She was a nationally known authority on Black literature, and she served on the advisory
board of the Negro-American Literature Forum, which later
became the Black American Literature Forum. She was listed in
Contemporary Authors (1974).
