Julius Rosenwald Home

Rural communities often didn’t have Black schools. The rural communities that did have Black schools had poor-quality schools. The teachers did not have a high level of education, and the supplies were worn. In the early 1900s, the average white child completed the 8th grade, while the average Black child only completed the 5th grade. Rosenwald’s vision was revolutionary for its time. He created state-of-the-art schools that Blacks were proud to attend. “These schools were new and modern, with big tall windows and lots of light streaming in. They felt special because they were new and they were theirs.” [1] The architecture was a tangible example to show the South that the education of Black children was important.

Rosenwald schools did more than provide a physical structure for Black pupils. The schools were like fertilizer to the Black community. Principals, teachers, ministers, students, and parents gathered to clear land, paint the buildings, and improve the grounds. African Americans worked to earn funds to match the Rosenwald grants, raising money at churches and donating some of their scarce income from farming. As rural African Americans helped themselves, they became the dynamic force behind the Rosenwald program and the architects of its significance. The schools became community centers, hosting sporting events, public meetings, dramatic performances, and classes on farming techniques, and instilled a work ethic and community values in parents and students. The percentage of Blacks that were literate grew at a steady rate due to the increased opportunities for education. By 1928, one-third of the South’s rural Black schoolchildren attended Rosenwald Schools.

Most Rosenwald schools closed after the passing of Brown v. Board of Education desegregated public schools in 1954. Some school buildings are now repurposed as community centers, homes, and other commercial buildings. Most Rosenwald schools are in disrepair or demolished. In 2002, the National Trust for Historic Preservation started an initiative to locate and preserve Rosenwald Schools for their contribution to history.

1) Booker Washington, You Need A Schoolhouse (Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 2011),155

Thomas E. Hatchett, "The Rosenwald Schools and Black Education in North Carolina," NCHR 65 (October 1988)

Peter M. Ascoli, Julius Rosenwald: The Man Who Built Sears, Roebuck, and Advanced the Cause of Black Education in the American South (Indiana: Indiana Univ. Press, 2006), 79

Scott Simon. “Built A Century Ago, “Rosenwald Schools” May Still Have Lessons To Teach. Weekend Edition. Washington, D.C: National Public Radio. October 17th, 2015.

Ronald Butchart, Freedmen's Education during Reconstruction (Georgia: New Georgia Encyclopedia, 2016)