A contribution from Yvonne Kolbenschlag
Booker T. Washington was born to a slave mother. He never knew his father. Slavery ended when Booker was still a child. He was taken in by a white family to be a servant. Although he was not paid for the chores he had to do, the family treated him well, providing food and clothes. They taught him to read. This was not the case for most former slaves, most of whom had no education and no skills to make a living. Booker realized how the ability to read and be educated was a major need.
He heard of a school called Hamilton Institute in Virginia. Hamilton, who was white, had been an officer of black soldiers during the Civil War. He realized black soldiers could never get jobs if they could not read. Thus, he began the Hamilton Institute, where students were educated. They paid their “keep” by doing meaningful chores. Booker learned about this place, although not near, he walked, found rides, and enrolled.
He then decided he would find ways to build schools for all children who were not allowed to attend public schools in the segregated south.
He began to raise funds and found a major donor, wealthy Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears and Roebuck. (Sears and Roebuck, a national store, was a supplier of just about everything through stores and catalogs.) Rosenwald was Jewish. He had experienced discrimination himself and so he helped those being denied an education.
One of Booker’s major fundraisers featured Mark Twain giving a speech. Twain grew crowds. Twain mentions in his autobiography that Booker T. was running all over trying to raise money to build schools and that he was a good speaker.
Did Booker accomplish what he had hoped for? Amazingly, the Rosenwald schools numbered 5,357 built across 15 southern states. Booker used what he learned at the Hamilton Institute: involve people to provide labor to receive supplies (beginning the matching grant idea). Parents were eager to have a way for their children to have a school and provided labor and did some fundraising themselves.
Tuskegee Institute had been built this way also. Architects from there drew plans for the schools. Since there was no electricity, large windows on both sides of the buildings let in light and provided cross ventilation. The schools had to have a large area for children to play. These schools were up-to-date at that time.
Our Adair County Public Library has a book about one Rosenwald school building still standing in Adair County.
“A History of Rosenwald Schools in Adair County Kentucky” by Rodney White is a valuable read. It tells about the struggles some people had to gain an education.
What can we do as a community to preserve this significant building?
Is there an organization that can take it on as a project?
The building is a treasure that needs preservation.
It represents black and white history that should not be forgotten.
