![]() Wall Street Journal “Rosenwald used to be a name to conjure with, but no more, and that is a shame this vivid, engaging documentary attempts to do something about. Fortunately, a fundraiser thrown in Chicago, Illinois in 1911 honoring the Tuskegee Institute allowed Washington to cross paths with Julius Rosenwald, the wealthy clothier who served as president of the Sears-Roebuck company from 1908 to 1922. “This stirring documentary evokes a vision of American comity from a past that speaks to the present.” Rosenwald’s important work is still too little-known. Washington to build 5,400 schools in African American communities in the segregated South of the early 1900s-benefiting more than 600,000 students-and he built YMCAs and housing for African Americans to address the pressing needs brought on by the Great Migration. She is the founder and president of Gatestone Institute, a New York-based right-wing anti-Muslim think tank. Inspired by the ideals of tzedakah (charity) and tikkun olam (repairing the world) and a deep concern over racial inequality in America, Rosenwald used his wealth to become one of America’s most effective philanthropists. Nina Rosenwald is an American political activist and philanthropist.An heiress to the Sears Roebuck fortune, Rosenwald is vice president of the William Rosenwald Family Fund and co-chair of the board of American Securities Management. ![]() Yvonne and Leslie Pollack Foundation Inc.īack by popular demand! Acclaimed documentarian Aviva Kempner (The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg) turns her lens on the incredible story of Chicago-based Julius Rosenwald, son of an immigrant peddler who rose to head Sears, Roebuck and Co. "Alumni are looking at their schools and saying, I want to preserve that school that was such an important part of my life," Deutsch says.AJC Westchester/Fairfield thanks the following donors for making this sponsorship possible with their generous support: But Deutsch says there has been interest in recent years in renovating and restoring the schools. She says many of the schools were boarded up or left to fall apart. Informed by his experience at Sears, Roebuck, where he was an enthusiastic practitioner of welfare capitalism, Rosenwald viewed philanthropy as a convergence of interests and communities. So, they often contributed labor and materials.ĭeutsch says when segregation ended, the consolidated school was usually placed in the formerly whites-only building. Many of the communities served by the schoolhouses were already trying to get schools for their children, she says. "The idea of partnering with the community was very much in keeping with Rosenwald's thinking," Deutsch says. "At a time when blacks were excluded from public libraries, public playgrounds, and many other public facilities, the Rosenwald school was really theirs," she says. Deutsch says they were built to be flexible. "His big belief was that education was the building block on which people would build better lives and stronger lives," she says.īeyond serving students, the schools became civic centers for the communities they served. Former Sears president Julius Rosenwald was known for his philanthropy, and relationship with the black community in America. After they met, Washington suggested to Rosenwald the idea of constructing the new schools, Deutsch says.
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