Schools of Hope ─ How Julius Rosenwald Helped Change African American Education

In early twentieth-century America, at a time of rampant segregation, one man made it possible for African American children in the South to receive a quality education. Julius Rosenwald was not only the wealthy president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, but one of America's greatest philanthropists. Through his friendship with Booker T. Washington, Rosenwald discovered that southern black schools suffered from inadequately trained teachers, dilapidated buildings, and a lack of books and supplies. Adhering to Washington's self-help philosophy, Rosenwald began funding the building of schools throughout the deep South with one major stipulation—each community had to raise enough money to match his gift. By 1932, over 5,300 Rosenwald schools served a quarter of all black children in the South. Rosenwald's legacy lives on through Rosenwald school graduates, their children, and grandchildren.

Norman H. Finkelstein is the award-winning author of eighteen nonfiction books for young readers. He has won the National Jewish Book Award twice for Heeding the Call: Jewish Voices in America's Civil Rights Struggle and Forged in Freedom: Shaping the Jewish-American Experience (both Jewish Publication Society) and the Golden Kite Honor Book Award for Nonfiction for With Heroic Truth: The Life of Edward R. Murrow (Clarion Books). Three Across: The Great Transatlantic Race of 1927 was published by Calkins Creek in 2008. A resident of Framingham, Massachusetts, Finkelstein is a retired public school librarian and a longtime faculty member of Boston’s Hebrew College. Visit normfinkelstein.com.