Thursday, April 5, 2012

Rosenwald Schools

From the December 7, 1941, Charleston (SC) Post and Courier "Rosenwald Schools" by Robert Behre.

In 2002, the National trust for Historic Preservation listed these schools as most endangered sites. Sears president Julius Rosenwald put up funds to match to build 4,977 new schools for blacks in the South from 1912 to 1932. There were 13 built in Charleston County, 6 each in Berkeley and Colleton counties and 2 in Dorchester.

Only a few are known to be still standing. The interior of the Lincolnville Town Hall is one.

One in southern Charleston County is now a private residence. Of the more than 500 built in South Carolina, only 10-15% survive. They are not as common in SC's Low Country as in Upstate.

About 664,000 blacks in 15 states were educated in Rosenwald Schools.

It Is Too Bad That So Few Know of These Schools That Did So Much to Further Black Lives. --DaCoot

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