‘Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity: Rosenwald Schools of North Carolina’

Aviva Kempner’s Rosenwald is the incredible story of Julius Rosenwald, who never finished high school, but rose to become the President of Sears. Influenced by the writings of the educator Booker T. Washington, this Jewish philanthropist joined forces with African American communities during the Jim Crow South to build over 5,300 schools during the early part of the 20th century. Inspired by the Jewish ideals of tzedakah (charity) and tikkun olam (repairing the world), and a deep concern over racial inequality in America, Julius Rosenwald used his wealth to become one of America’s most effective philanthropists. Because of his modesty, Rosenwald’s philanthropy and social activism are not well known today. He gave away $62million in his lifetime.

PBS Charlotte North Carolina: The story behind efforts to create schools for Black children in rural NC under Jim Crow. In the early 1900s, North Carolina and other Southern states largely ignored their responsibility to provide education for rural Black children. Learn how educator Booker T. Washington and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald hatched a plan that broke Jim Crow’s grip on funding for Black schools. The results helped change the South and the nation, one student at a time. Click to watch, read transcript, review clips and previews.

This documentary was made by Longleaf Productions of North Carolina. Watch an extended preview on Facebook as well as comments from the filmmakers.

On the Longleaf Facebook site, producer Tom Lassiter explained the origin of the project: “If you grew up in the rural segregated South, as I did, you probably have a connection to a Rosenwald School. And you may not even know it. Short Journey School, in Johnston County, N.C., is my connection. I grew up just a few miles away and, until 1965, had only other White kids as classmates. The Black children living near me went to Short Journey. I didn’t know Short Journey had been constructed thanks to an amazing school-building initiative kick-started by Sears, Roebuck CEO and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald. (Forty years after the height of the school-building program, many in the Black community also had forgotten how the schools came to be).

“J.R. had been inspired by his friend Booker T. Washington (of Tuskegee fame) to help build schools for Southern Black children, whose schools were either substandard or non-existent. (And we all know why that was the case.)

“Once I discovered my own Rosenwald connection a decade ago, I was stunned that the story of Booker T. and J.R. – which resulted in the construction of nearly 5,000 schools – wasn’t better known. My film-making partner Jere Snyder and I decided to put our meager skills to work in an attempt to move the awareness needle.

“(Dorothy “Dot” Hooks made the Short Journey photo in the 1940s. Trained as a fine artist, she made portrait photography her career in Smithfield. My mother didn’t splurge on much, but she made sure each of her four children sat for Dot on their third birthdays. Dot’s Short Journey photos helped make our film so much better. We’re grateful to the Johnston County Heritage Center for preserving them.)”

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This high school student documentary about the Rosenwald Schools, which were built across the South as the result of a partnership and friendship between Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington, was the National History Day group documentary winner in 2014. It was created by Woodlawn School students Quinn Schneider and Jake Johnson of Mooresville, NC.

“The Rosenwald School project built more than 5,000 schools, shops, and teacher homes in the United States primarily for the education of African-American children in the South during the early 20th century. The project was the product of the partnership of Julius Rosenwald, a Jewish-American clothier who became part-owner and president of Sears, Roebuck, and Company and the African-American leader, educator, and philanthropist Booker T. Washington, who was president of the Tuskegee Institute.

“The need arose from the chronic underfunding of public education for African-American children in the South, as black people had been discriminated against at the turn of the century and excluded from the political system in that region. Children were required to attend segregated schools.

“Rosenwald was the founder of the Rosenwald Fund. He contributed seed money for many schools and other philanthropic causes. He required local communities to raise matching funds to encourage their commitment to these projects.” — More from Wikipedia.

More than 800 Rosenwald Schools were built in North Carolina, beginning in the 1920s. “Nearly 5,000 similar schools were constructed in 15 states, from Maryland to Texas, with North Carolina having the most,” Tom Lassiter reported for EDNC.org in 2015. A video accompanied his report.

NCMarkers.com has details about the Rosenwald School markers along highways in North Carolina.