Known by many names, the Rosenwald Fund[1] was established by Julius Rosenwald[2] and his family in 1917. The couple believed in the “well-being of mankind” and their works were to that end. The reach of the fund provided seed money for public schools, colleges, universities, museums, institutions and other philanthropic causes. Unlike traditional charities, Rosenwald believed that the funds should be exhausted within a specific timeframe. In order to promote collaboration between the races, Rosenwald required communities to also commit public funds and/or labor to any schools he provided funding for, as well as to contribute additional cash donations after construction. Rosenwald’s work has been equated with working for democracy. His limitations on the life of the fund transformed its beneficiaries into partners in their own advancement.
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The manThe man
The son of a German Jewish immigrant, growing up, Rosenwald was taught to focus on social justice and to be charitable. The religious influence of Rabbi Emil Hirsch of Temple Sinai[3] and his like-minded wife allowed the two of them to impact the world around them. Successful in business, he would ultimately become rich as president of the Sears and Roebuck Company[4]. In the beginning, Rosenwald begin contributing monies to Jewish charitable causes but soon expanded outside of his religious arena, giving generously to projects serving any and all of America’s minorities.
The challenge grantThe challenge grant
One of his early contributions was to the Young Men’s Christian Association[5], known also as the YMCA. The organization’s discriminatory practices excluded African Americans from use of the facilities. In 1910, Rosenwald established a challenge grant to fund YMCAs to service African Americans[6]. He ultimately provided funding for 25 YMCAs across America.
Why contribute to the NegroWhy contribute to the Negro
In the summer of 1910 Rosenwald read, An American Citizen: The Life of William H. Baldwin[7], who believed in social justice and his role. Rosenwald was taken with Baldwin’s works and became aware of Baldwin’s association with Booker T. Washington[8] and the Tuskegee Institute[9]. Rosenwald desired to aspire to the heights of Baldwin’s philosophy.
In 1911, Rosenwald was introduced to Washington. Having read his autobiography, Up from Slavery, Rosenwald began to look closely at the lives of post emancipation freedmen. Washington’s philosophy of self-help appealed to Rosenwald, and the two began collaborating to aid Black colleges and preparatory schools. Eventually, upon Washington’s request, Rosenwald allocated funds specifically to establishing elementary schools in rural communities around Tuskegee[10], Macon County, Alabama, the location of Washington’s Tuskegee Institute. Funding also included schools, shops, and teacher homes.
Of the $70 million allocated for the overall project, over $4.4 million was allocated to building rural schools in the South for African Americans. Routinely discriminated against and excluded from the political system, separate but equal practices and discriminatory laws and practices had had a profound negative impact on the entire race.
The impact and legacyThe impact and legacy
Rosenwald’s seed money helped make education attainable, boosting literacy rates and opportunities for advancement among African Americans in the rural South.[11][12] The Fund built institutions in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North and South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.[13] [14]
- By 1928, approximately one third of the rural schools for Black students in the South was a Rosenwald school.[15]
- About 40% of Black children in the South attended a Rosenwald school during the program’s peak.
- Many of the buildings built by the Rosenwald Fund are still intact, and several dozen are included on the National Register of Historic Places but only a few still operate as schools. Few were named after him.[16]
- With the program, millions of dollars were raised by African American rural communities across the South to fund better education for their
Explore more about the Rosenwald FundExplore more about the Rosenwald Fund
- Julius Rosenwald: Investing in People. Virginia Museum of History & Culture.
- Emil Gustav Hirsch. Jewish Encyclopedia
- ROSENWALD SCHOOLS. HistorySouth.org.
- Julius Rosenwald Papers. Black Metropolis Research Consortium.
- Brooks, John Graham. An American Citizen: The Life of William H. Baldwin. Charleston. Legare Street Press. 2022.
- Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery: An Autobiography. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1907.
- One Jewish photographer's mission to preserve the legacy of the Rosenwald schools. Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Diner, Hasia R. Julius Rosenwald: Repairing the World. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2017. Finkelstein, Norman H. Schools of Hope: How Julius Rosenwald Helped Change African American Education. Penguin Random House, 2014. children.
References
- ↑ https://www.julius-rosenwald-legacy.com/rosenwald-fund.html
- ↑ https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/hall-of-fame/julius-rosenwald/
- ↑ http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2455.html
- ↑ https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/history-of-sears
- ↑ https://www.ymca.org/who-we-are/our-history
- ↑ https://www.kentuckypress.com/9780813190723/light-in-the-darkness/
- ↑ William H. Baldwin Jr. Philanthropist born - African American Registry
- ↑ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Booker-T-Washington
- ↑ Tuskegee Institute's Founding - Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)
- ↑ https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/tuskegee/
- ↑ African American Registry. The Rosenwald School Project in America Begins.
- ↑ ‘Backbone of the American Dream’: How Rosenwald Schools shaped the civil rights movement
- ↑ List of Rosenwald schools - Wikipedia
- ↑ One Jewish photographer's mission to preserve the legacy of the Rosenwald schools - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
- ↑ Rosenwald Schools | National Trust for Historic Preservation
- ↑ Rosenwald School’s National Registry Now for All to See – Mars Hill Anderson Rosenwald School