Chicago's Mother of Black History, Vivian Harsh-- Part 1: Education the Key

From the February 2, 2020, Chicago Tribune by Ron Grossman.

She didn't write a book, but her name is on a special collection in the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library in Chicago.  When she died in 1960, the Chicago Defender's obituary was headlined:  "Historian Who Never Wrote."

Vivian Harsh once said:  "If we as Negroes knew the full truth about what we, as a race, have endured and overcome just to stay alive with dignity, our respect and hunger for education would triple overnight."

Her devotion and dedication to all things history began back when she was at high school at Wendell Phillips in Chicago, where she joined the Herodotus History Club.  The ancients called Herodotus the "Father of History."

Vivian Harsh was the "Mother of Black History."

After the George Cleveland Hall Branch of the Chicago Public Library opened on the South Side, with Harsh as the head librarian, the Rosenwald Fund gave her a $500 grant to study libraries serving black communities in other cities.  Julius Rosenwald, a philanthropist and president of Sears, Roebuck & Co. was responsible for making the Hall Branch a reality in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood.  Not to mention all the hundreds of Rosenwald schools built in the South to educate black children.

A Short History of Sears & Roebuck-- Part 5: A Branch Into Retail Stores

A years after Roenwald retired as Sears' president (though staying on as chairman), the company set off in a new direction.  In 1925, it opened a retail store in the Homan Avenue complex that was so successful that it began opening stand alone stores all over.

Sears morphed into a retail chain of stores with a mail-order business on the side.  It 1993, it issued its last general merchandise catalog.  Eventually, s slow slide began that has now turned into a free fall.  This is due to people ordering everything off the internet now as well as the goals and aims of the current owners who seem to plan on picking the bones clean.

--DaCootBuck

A Short History of Sears & Roebuck-- Part 4: Julius Rosenwald, Philanthropist

Julius Rosenwald was not only a businessman, but also a notable philanthropist.  His sizable donations created the Museum of Science and Industry and built schools in hundreds of Southern towns that lacked educational facilities for black children.  He felt a responsibility to use his fortune for the benefit of those less fortunate than he was.

And, by 1908, he was in charge of Sears & Roebuck, Richard Sears having retired then.

His Homan complex in the North Lawndale neighborhood included an athletic field, a running track and tennis courts.  Workers were invited to take their lunch breaks in a formal garden with a pergola and classical pavilions.  The company touted those amenities in promotional handouts:  "We believe these surroundings inspire our workers to better things and make for contentment and happiness."

--CootSears

A Short History of Sears Roebuck-- Part 2: Julius Rosenwald and His Scientific Management in Business

Richard Sears was a very talented salesman, but really bad when it came to details to get his products out to the customers.  Railroad cars of product sat unloaded.  Customer orders went unfilled, missing and were often filled late.

Fortunately for Sears, Julius Rosenwald, whom Sears brought into the firm in 1895, was extremely orderly and in charge.

"It's with pardonable pride that I confess to being one of the first to introduce scientific management in business with the hope of effecting comprehensive economics for the benefit of the consumer," Rosenwald told the Tribune in 1911.

Rosenwald's insistence on rational planning is shown in the Sears corporate headquarters on Homan Avenue in Chicago.  It was an enormous complex covering 40 acres.  The distribution center was just one part of it.  Some 3 million square feet was incorporated in the various building, providing presses to print catalogs, storage for goods and kitchens that prepared meals for 9,290 employees.

There was even a railroad depot.

Julius Rosenwald's Generosity: Rosenwald Schools

From the September 2, 2015, Chicago Tribune "Film shows Rosenwald's generosity" by Clarence Page.

His is a name from history that not many know.  And that is a sad thing.  But, he wanted it that way.

Julius Rosenwald never finished high school, but rose to become president and co-owner of Sears, Roebuck and Co., but declined having his name placed on it.  He died in 1932 and didn't want his name on the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry although he funded and promoted it.

Even more impressive was his 5,000 schools that he helped fund for black schoolchildren across the South.  he didn't want his name on those school either, but today they are called Rosenwald Schools.  Clarence Page says that some of his family are alumni of those schools.

There is a new documentary film "Rosenwald" out, which sadly I probably won't get a chance to see.It was made by Aviva Kempner.

Former United States poet laureate Rita Dovem a Rosenwald graduate, has called the Rosenwald Fund "the single most important funding agency for African-American culture in the 20th century."  His schools allowed black children to receive the education they might not have gotten in the segregated Jim Crow South.

I know that efforts are underway across the South to save some of the remaining Rosenwald Schools.

A Great Man.

Chicago's Shuttered Rosenwald Apartments

From the July 3rd Chicago Tribune "TIF may help revive historic complex" by Blair Kamin.

Singer Nat "King" Cole lived there as did poet Gwendolyn Brooks and music producer Quincy Jones.  Even with these notable past tenants, the Roserwald Apartments in Chicago, occupying a block on Michigan Avenue and 47th Street, has been shuttered for over a decade but may be on the path of coming back if a developer has his way.

Built in 1929 with an endowment by Sears, Roebuck & Co. president and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald (who also built the Museum of Science and Industry) the complex of five connected buildings was designed by his nephew Ernest Grunsfield, Jr, who was also the architect of the Adler Planetarium. It was home for generations of blacks.  He also was the reason for the Rosenwald Schools being built to educate blacks in the South.

In 2003, it was placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 11 most endangered list after the neighborhood around it declined, residents moved out and it became a haven for drug dealers.

Let's hope these plans come through and it becomes a part in the redevelopment of the surrounding area.

Saving Those Old Buildings.  --Cooter