Rosenwald Fund

The Rosenwald Fund (also known as the Rosenwald Foundation, the Julius Rosenwald Fund, and the Julius Rosenwald Foundation) was established in 1917 by Julius Rosenwald and his family for "the well-being of mankind."

Julius Rosenwald, an American clothier, became part-owner of Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1895, and eventually served as its president from 1908 to 1922, and chairman of its Board of Directors until his death in 1932. He became interested in social issues, especially education for African Americans, and provided funding through Dr. Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute, a historically black college (HBCU), prior to founding the fund.

Unlike other endowed foundations, which were designed to fund themselves in perpetuity, the Rosenwald Fund was intended to use all of its funds for philanthropic purposes. It donated over $70 million to public schools, colleges and universities, museums, Jewish charities, and black institutions before funds were completely depleted in 1948.

The rural school building program for African-American children was one of the largest programs administered by the Rosenwald Fund. Over $4.4 million in matching funds stimulated construction of more than 5,000 one-room schools (and larger ones), as well as shops and teachers' homes, mostly in the South. These schools, constructed to models by architects of Tuskegee College, became known as "Rosenwald Schools." In some communities, surviving structures have been preserved and recognized as landmarks for their historical character and social significance.

The Rosenwald Fund was also one of the original backers of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. With support from the Rosenwald Fund, an ambitious program had begun to improve the health of African Americans in US southern states in 1928. Emphasis was on treating people with syphilis, then found at a high rate among poor African-American communities.

When the Great Depression began a year later, the Rosenwald Fund was forced to remove its support. The subsequent search by the U.S. Public Health Service for financial support led the doctors to a partnership with Tuskegee Institute, in which they promoted research into the progress of disease. With this change from a treatment program to a medical experiment, the Tuskegee Experiments had begun. They became notorious for their misleading patients in the program and failing to advise them of rights for treatment.

See also

• Rosenwald Schools
• John T. Caldwell
• Emil Hirsch
• Julian Mack
• Henry H. Rogers
• Booker T. Washington

Further reading

• Perkins, Alfred. Edwin Rogers Embree: The Julius Rosenwald Fund, Foundation Philanthropy, and American Race Relations (Indiana UP, 2011) excerpt and text search

External links

• Diane Granat, "Saving the Rosenwald Schools"
• "Historic Black Schools Restored as Landmarks," "New York Times" Jan. 15, 2010