Julius Rosenwald

Rosenwald National Historical Park Campaign
The National Park Service is right in there pitching when it comes to the preservation of our country schools. There are at least six better known national parks or historic sites that include a restored one-room schoolhouse:  the Fruita School at Capitol Reef National Park (UT), the Junction School at the Lyndon Baines Johnson National Historic Park (TX), the Greenbrier School at Great Smokey Mountain National Park (TN), the Freeman School at Homestead National Historical Park (NE), the Abiel Smith School of the Boston African American National Historical Site (MA), and the District #1 School at the Nicodemus National Historical Site (KS). All of them have a fascinating history. 

The Report Card will offer their stories in future posts, but there is good news  on the horizon for adding another national historical site to this roster. The Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park has been making headway since 2021 and work continues to make this dream a reality. The park is to be dedicated to Rosenwald, president and part owner of Sears Roebuck Company, who collaborated with Booker T. Washington to bring new schools to the south. Rosenwald offered partial funding toward the building of one-room schools where local citizens would contribute the remainder to the effort. 

According to the National Park Service, "From 1917 to 1932, more than 5,000 Rosenwald schools were built in African American communities in fifteen states. During the 1920s, one in five schools for African Americans in the rural South was a Rosenwald school. By the time the last school was built in 1932, more than 600,000 African American children in the south had attended a Rosenwald school." 

The campaign offers the prospect of honoring Julius Rosenwald's philanthropy and the determination of black communities throughout the south to bring quality education to underserved children through the building of those schools.


Notes:
Many schools being restored today are indeed Rosenwald Schools. CSAA posts articles from southern newspapers about these efforts on our Facebook page.

If you want more information about the national historical park campaign, follow the links below. 

​For a definitive book about Julius Rosenwald and his friendship with Booker T. Washington we recommend, "You Need a Schoolhouse" by Stephanie Deutsch, linked below.

ROSENWALD NATIONAL HISTORICAL  PARK

YOU NEED A SCHOOLHOUSE

CSAA FACEBOOK PAGE