The legacy of the Rosenwald schools

This Is Nashville

In the Jim Crow South, education opportunities for Black children were few and far between. The inequity was blatant all over the South, but the disparities in education were especially stark. Those in power did not see Black Americans as fit for any profession aside from manual labor and thought education was a waste of time.

In 1911, when education leader Booker T. Washington met Julius Rosenwald, co-owner of Sears, Roebuck and Co. and a Jewish philanthropist, they changed the education landscape for Black children forever. Over the next 20 years, they partnered with rural Black communities to build schools so their children could get a quality education in a modern environment.

In this episode, we talk to documentarians and alumni of a Middle Tennessee Rosenwald school to learn about these influential institutions.

Guests:

• Andrew Feiler, photographer and author

• Frank Brinkley, alumni of Cairo school

• Charles Brinkley, Sr., alumni of Cairo school

• Matthew Gailani, curator at Tennessee State Museum

• DeLisa Harris, director of library services at Fisk University’s John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library

Related:

• Chapter 16: The Keys to a Better Life

• WPLN: ‘Endangered’ List Adds 3 Historic School Buildings And Some Rapidly Changing Nashville Neighborhoods

• Smithsonian Magazine: Inside the Rosenwald Schools