Sam Rosenwald is a well known name in American business. In the early 1900's this son of Jewish German immigrants was president of Sears Roebuck and helped build it into the vast retail empire it became. But there is more to him than that.....

Sam Rosenwald met Booker T. Washington. Rosenwald gave Booker T. Washington money to help in the education of blacks in the rural south. The money was matched by local communities, most of the local donations coming from black southerners. Many philanthropic organizations were afraid to help support those schools for fear of drawing the wrath of local whites. Many of the Rosenwald schools used the same textbooks for years. These schools operated up until the early 1960's. No one knows exactly how many thousands of black citizens were educated in the Rosenwald schools, but many went on to become highly trained professionals.

By 1932, Sam Rosenwald had donated some 4.2 million dollars to building these schools. Blacks had contributed 4.7 million. Local goverments also contributed to these schools. What a wonderful example of what can be done when good people of differing colors and/or religions work together instead of putting their energy into hatred and resentment of each other. Many problems were faced by the Rosenwald Schools. One problem was that local schoolboards seldom voted money for new books. They schools continued educating black citizens anyway. There were 5,300 schools built across the southern states. In Arkansas, it was probably the KKK who burned one down. It was replaced by one built of bricks. Hallelujah.

There is a movement afoot to try to preserve some of the few remaining Rosenwald schools as National Historic Monuments. There are fewer than 25 original schools left of Alabama's 389. The numbers are probably similar throughout the southern states. I heartily applaud the preservation of these monuments of cooperation and education. We should always remember our history, the good, the questionable and the downright bad. The United States is a nation of all kinds of people, let's remember all and emulate the best of them.