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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." Rosenwald became part-owner of Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1895, serving as its president from 1908 to 1922, and chairman of its board of directors until his death in 1932.

History

Unlike other endowed foundations, which were designed to fund themselves in perpetuity, the Rosenwald Fund was designed to expend all of its funds for philanthropic purposes before a predetermined "sunset date." It donated over $70 million to public schools, colleges and universities, museums, Jewish charities, and African American 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, where public schools were segregated and black schools had been chronically underfunded. This was particularly so after disenfranchisement of most blacks from the political system in southern states at the turn of the 20th century. The Fund required white school boards to agree to operate such schools and to arrange for matching funds, in addition to requiring black communities to raise funds or donate property and labor to construct the schools. These schools, constructed to models designed by architects of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now known as Tuskegee University), 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 National Trust for Historic Preservation has classified them as National Treasures.

The Rosenwald Fund also made fellowship grants directly to African-American artists, writers, researchers and intellectuals between 1928 and 1948. Civil rights leader Julian Bond, whose father received a Rosenwald fellowship, has called the list of grantees a "Who's Who of black America in the 1930s and 1940s." Hundreds of grants were disbursed to artists, writers and other cultural figures, many of whom became prominent or already were, including photographers Gordon Parks, Elizabeth Catlett, Marion Palfi, poets Claude McKay, Dr. Charles Drew, Augusta Savage, anthropologist and dancer Katherine Dunham, singer Marian Anderson, silversmith Winifred Mason, writers Ralph Ellison, W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark, dermatologist Theodore K. Lawless, and poets Langston Hughes and Rita Dove. Fellowships of around $1,000 to $2,000 were given out yearly to applicants and were usually designed to be open-ended; the Foundation requested but did not require grantees to report back on what they accomplished with the support.

Notable fellowship recipients

This is a selected list of notable Rosenwald Fund Fellowship recipients from the years the fund's fellowship program was active, 1928-1948.


1928

1929

1930

1931

1932

  • Wallace A. Battle, education reformer and university founder
  • Ambrose Caliver, education reformer
  • Allison Davis, anthropologist; returning fellow 1939-1940
  • Ellsworth Faris, sociologist

1933

1934

1935

1936

1937

1938

  • Arna W. Bontemps, poet, writer, and librarian; returning fellow 1942
  • John Aubrey Davis, Sr., political scientist and civil rights activist; 1938-1940 fellowship
  • Shirley Graham Du Bois, writer, composer, and activist; 1938-1939 fellowship
  • Rufus Carrollton Harris, lawyer and university president
  • George Duke Humphrey educator and university president
  • Lewis Wade Jones, sociologist
  • Fred B. Kniffen, geographer and anthropologist
  • Ruth Smith Lloyd, anatomist; 1938-1939 fellowship
  • James LuValle, chemist and Olympic athlete; 1938-1939 fellowship
  • Ira De Augustine Reid, sociologist
  • Charles Shannon, artist
  • Frank M. Snowden, Jr., historian, classicist, and diplomat
  • Howard Swanson, composer; 1938-1939 fellowship
  • Joseph T. Taylor, sociologist and university dean

1939

  • May Justus, writer, educator, and civil rights activist
  • John Whitefield Kendrick, economist
  • Lawrence D. Reddick, historian; returning fellow 1945
  • Lillian Smith, writer; 1939-1940 fellowship
  • Hugh H. Smythe, sociologist, writer, and diplomat; 1939-1940 fellowship
  • William Grant Still, composer; 1939-1940 fellowship
  • Melvin E. Thompson, politician and governor of Georgia
  • Lorenzo Dow Turner, sociolinguist; returning fellow 1940 and 1945

1940

1941

  • Cleo W. Blackburn, social scientist and college president
  • David Blackwell, mathematician
  • Herman Branson, physicist, chemist, and college president
  • William Montague Cobb, physician and anthropologist
  • Helen Octavia Dickens, physician and writer
  • John Henry Faulk, storyteller and radio host; 1941-1942 fellowship
  • Cornelius Golightly, teacher, civil rights activist, and education administrator
  • Adelaide M. Cromwell, sociologist, historian, and preservationist; returning fellow 1944
  • Thomas C. Lea III, artist, writer, and historian
  • Mabel Murphy Smythe-Haith, economist, civil rights activist, and diplomat
  • Samuel Z. Westerfield, Jr., economist and diplomat
  • Bell Wiley, historian
  • Gordon Randolph Willey, archaeologist and anthropologist
  • Margaret Just Butcher, literary scholar, writer, and civil rights activist; 1941-1942 fellowship

1942

1943

1944

1945

  • Conrad Albrizio, painter; 1945-1946 fellowship
  • Janet Collins, dancer and choreographer
  • Woody Crumbo, artist, musician and dancer
  • Dean Dixon, conductor; 1945-1946 fellowship
  • Ralph Ellison, novelist and literary critic
  • Elizabeth Hardwick, novelist and literary critic
  • Winifred Mason, jeweler
  • Charles Sebree, painter and playwright
  • Kenneth Spencer, opera singer and actor
  • Alma Stone Williams, pianist and music teacher

1946

  • Evelyn Boyd, mathematician
  • Nat Caldwell, journalist
  • Elizabeth Catlett, artist; 1946-1947 fellowship
  • Clifton O. Dummett, dentist and dental historian
  • Mark Fax, composer and musicologist
  • Natalie Leota Hinderas, pianist, composer and musicologist; returning fellow 1948
  • John Tate Lanning, historian
  • Walter McAfee, astronomer
  • Willard Motley, writer
  • Dave Masato Okada, sociologist
  • Marion Palfi, photographer
  • Rose Piper, painter and textile designer

1947

1948

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Fondo Rosenwald para niños

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