Rosenwald Fund in Oklahoma
The Julius Rosenwald Fund was created in 1917 by Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck and Company. Beginning in 1913, Rosenwald, a noted philanthropist from Chicago, Illinois, provided limited funding for the construction of African-American schools in Alabama. Due to the success of this endeavor and persistent need in Alabama and other southern states, the “Julius Rosenwald Fund” was incorporated on 30 October 1917. The fund was active throughout the southern United States, including the states of Oklahoma, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
During the first fifteen years of the program, the primary purpose of the Rosenwald Fund was the construction of new school buildings to create a better educational environment for Black children. Although the fund did not provide all the money necessary for the construction of the new buildings, it did provide sufficient money to act as an impetuous for the local districts to better their facilities. Total in Oklahoma, 198 education-related buildings were constructed with aid from the Rosenwald Fund. This consisted of 176 schoolhouses, 16 teachers’ homes and 6 shops in 44 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties. The Rosenwald school building program ended in Oklahoma and nationally in 1932.
In addition to the construction of school buildings, the Rosenwald Fund contributed money for Black school libraries, transportation to separate consolidated schools, African-American teacher education and Black colleges and universities. The fund also had programs related to health and medicine, race relationships and miscellaneous other activities related to the well-being of mankind. The Julius Rosenwald Fund continued in operation until 1948 when, as intended by Julius Rosenwald, all monies had been spent and the trustees dissolved the fund.
To date, only two Rosenwald buildings in Oklahoma have been documented for preservation purposes. The Rosenwald Hall in Lima, Seminole County, originally named Lima School District #5, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 28 September 1984. The Douglass School in Lawton, Comanche County, was documented in 1992 as part of the SHPO-sponsored Reconnaissance Level Survey of Certain Portions of the City of Lawton. Due to additions and other alterations to the brick school, it was determined not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. In 1996, SHPO staff conducted a survey of Langston University; however, none of the three late 1920s Rosenwald buildings built on the campus remained extant.
Written by Cynthia Savage
Return to African American Events/Topics
Return to Education
Return to History Topics