Historic African American Schools: Rosenwald Schools in Virginia

"The Rosenwald rural school building program was a major effort conceived of by Booker T. Washington and funded by Julius Rosenwald to improve the quality of public education for African Americans in the South. Between 1918 and 1932, more than 360 Rosenwald schools were built in rural areas across Virginia. During a time of racial segregation and public under-funding of African-American schools, Rosenwald building program-funded schools offered a better quality education for African-American children. Julius Rosenwald, of the Sears-Roebuck Company, established a fund that helped finance construction of the schools. As part of the funding model, African-American communities would raise many dollars of their own from the 1910s through early 1930s to match the Rosenwald building fund's contributions in order to fund construction of the schools. The building program also required local governments to commit public funds which might have otherwise been allocated to other projects. The program served as a way of incentivizing school boards and localities to invest in educational opportunities for African American students; it required the participation of local government and the African-American community itself in order to secure the Rosenwald fund-supplied portion of the money needed to complete a school." This project surveyed, recorded, and created a story map that shows the location of both surviving and demolished Rosenwald Schools. Once called Virginia's most endangered historic places by Preservation Virginia, these sites are now being commemorated and rehabilitated to continue the spirit of community engagement that was started by Julius Rosenwald. Since 2013, Preservation Virginia staff have visited and consulted with school groups around the Commonwealth, on issues ranging from building ownership, preservation and restoration planning, interpretation and commemoration, and adaptive re-use and financial sustainability." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to Preservation Virginia administered by the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior (grant number P17AP00017).

Historic African American Schools: Rosenwald Schools in Virginia

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