[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 214 (Thursday, December 17, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H7247-H7248]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
JULIUS ROSENWALD AND THE ROSENWALD SCHOOLS ACT OF 2020
Mr. GALLEGO. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 3250) to require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a
special resource study of the sites associated with the life and legacy
of the noted American philanthropist and business executive Julius
Rosenwald, with a special focus on the Rosenwald Schools, and for other
purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 3250
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Julius Rosenwald and the
Rosenwald Schools Act of 2020''.
SEC. 2. RESOURCE STUDY OF JULIUS ROSENWALD AND ROSENWALD
SCHOOLS.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Rosenwald school.--The term ``Rosenwald School'' means
any of the 5,357 schools and related buildings constructed in
15 southern States during the period of 1912 through 1932 by
the philanthropy of Julius Rosenwald.
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of the Interior.
(3) Study area.--The term ``study area'' means the sites
associated with the life and legacy of Julius Rosenwald.
(b) Special Resource Study.--
(1) Study.--The Secretary shall conduct a special resource
study of the study area, with a special emphasis on the
following Rosenwald Schools and other sites associated with
the life and legacy of Julius Rosenwald:
(A) Sears Administration Building at Homan Square in
Chicago, Illinois.
(B) Rosenwald Court Apartments in Chicago, Illinois.
(C) Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago, Illinois.
(D) Rosenwald House (formerly the Lyon Home) at the Lincoln
Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois.
(E) Cairo Rosenwald School, a one-teacher school in Sumner
County, Tennessee.
(F) Shady Grove School, a one-teacher school in Louisa
County, Virginia.
(G) Noble Hill School, a two-teacher school in Bartow
County, Georgia.
(H) Ridgeley School, a two-teacher school in Prince Georges
County, Maryland.
(I) Bay Springs School, a two-teacher school in Forest
County, Mississippi.
(J) Russell School, a two-teacher school in Durham County,
North Carolina.
(K) Shiloh Rosenwald School, a three-teacher school in
Macon County, Alabama.
(L) San Domingo School, a four-teacher school in Wicomico
County, Maryland.
(M) Elmore County Training School, a seven-teacher school
in Elmore County, Alabama.
(N) Dunbar Junior High, Senior High and Junior College in
Little Rock, Arkansas.
(2) Contents.--In conducting the study under paragraph (1),
the Secretary shall--
(A) evaluate the national significance of the study area;
(B) determine the suitability and feasibility of
designating the study area as a unit of the National Park
System, including an interpretive center in or near Chicago,
Illinois;
(C) consider other alternatives for preservation,
protection, and interpretation of the study area by the
Federal Government, State or local government entities, or
private and nonprofit organizations;
(D) consult with interested Federal agencies, State or
local governmental entities, private and nonprofit
organizations, or any other interested individuals; and
(E) identify cost estimates for any Federal acquisition,
development, interpretation, operation, and maintenance
associated with the alternatives.
(c) Applicable Law.--The study under paragraph (1) shall be
conducted in accordance with section 100507 of title 54,
United States Code.
(d) Results.--Not later than 3 years after the date on
which funds are first made available for the study under
paragraph (1), the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a
report describing--
(1) the results of the study; and
(2) any conclusions and recommendations of the Secretary
relating to the study.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Arizona (Mr. Gallego) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wittman)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arizona.
General Leave
Mr. GALLEGO. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Arizona?
There was no objection.
Mr. GALLEGO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3250, the Julius
Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools Act, introduced by Representative
Danny Davis.
This bill directs the National Park Service to conduct a study of
sites associated with the life and legacy of Julius Rosenwald.
Julius Rosenwald was an American businessman and philanthropist, who
is well known for his role as part owner and president of Sears,
Roebuck and Company.
In the early 20th century, Rosenwald used his wealth to fund
Progressive Era projects and causes, particularly those with a focus on
enhancing the lives of African Americans.
Rosenwald was instrumental in the construction of 25 YMCAs across the
country, including Chicago's historic Wabash Avenue YMCA, which
provided African Americans with housing and job training during the
Great Migration.
Through his efforts with the YMCA, Rosenwald developed a relationship
with Booker T. Washington and was invited to serve on the board of
directors of the Tuskegee Institute.
At Tuskegee, Rosenwald funded a pilot program that helped build six
schools for African-American children in rural Alabama. This
partnership ultimately sparked the creation of the Rosenwald Fund,
which constructed more than 5,300 Rosenwald Schools and related
buildings across the South.
By 1928, one in every five rural schools in the South was a Rosenwald
School, providing education to one-third of all African-American
children in the South through the 1940s.
Many Americans are unaware of the tremendous contributions that
Julius Rosenwald and the Rosenwald Schools made to our country. I would
like to thank Representative Davis for this effort to elevate this
incredible part of our Nation's history.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WITTMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, H.R. 3250 would require the Secretary of the Interior
to conduct a special resource study of the sites associated with the
legacy of Julius Rosenwald, with special focus on the Rosenwald
Schools.
Julius Rosenwald was born in 1862, while Abraham Lincoln was
President, in a house just a block away from Lincoln in Springfield,
Illinois. He would eventually play his own major role in helping to
elevate our Nation's African-American citizenry.
A child of German immigrants, Rosenwald dropped out of high school
after two years to apprentice with his uncles, who were major clothing
manufacturers in New York City. He was active in the wholesale clothing
business from 1879, until he joined Sears and Roebuck in 1895.
Rosenwald became vice president and part owner of the company. Sears
was the Amazon of its day, and Rosenwald went to extraordinary lengths
to keep up with its growth.
After stepping down as president of Sears in 1924, Mr. Rosenwald
devoted most of his time to philanthropy. Over the course of his life,
he donated millions of dollars to public schools, colleges and
universities, museums, Jewish charities, and African-American
institutions.
Of all of his philanthropic efforts, Rosenwald was most famous for
the more than 5,000 Rosenwald Schools he established throughout the
South for poor, rural African-American youth, and the 4,000 libraries
he added to existing schools. These schools were cooperatively built
with the assistance from the local African-American communities.
Donations of land and labor by the local community were matched by
financial contributions of the Rosenwald Fund.
In fact, the great legacy is the number of leaders in the African-
American community that would come back and
[[Page H7248]]
actually teach in the Rosenwald Schools. It was this effort, along with
Julius Rosenwald, that highlighted the disparities in the United States
educational system and highlighted the objectionable nature of separate
but equal tenets that predominated the school system under the law.
In fact, it was these efforts that helped Thurgood Marshall, when he
argued the case in 1954 before the Supreme Court, Brown v. Board of
Education, to successfully overturn these separate but equal tenets of
U.S. law at the time and found that separate but equal was indeed
unconstitutional.
It was the efforts of Julius Rosenwald, plus the tireless efforts of
African-American communities across the United States, that finally got
to a place that said, No, this is not the way our school system should
operate; we should, in fact, take up the cause of African-American
communities; they should, indeed, have equal school systems that are
not separate but that have all the assets and all the efforts and all
the focus that other schools had at the time.
This was the foundation of that.
Rosenwald, through his funding of these schools, actually was able to
elevate that issue to national prominence. I believe, and many others
believe, too, that it was one of the underlying principles and
arguments that Thurgood Marshall made before the Supreme Court in 1954.
In recent years, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in
several State historic offices, have initiated programs to survey the
surviving Rosenwald Schools. In fact, in the First Congressional
District of Virginia, there are a number of remaining Rosenwald School
buildings that are, incredibly, in very good shape.
In fact, many of the community organizations have purchased the
buildings, have raised money to renovate the buildings, and put them
back into their original condition so that people can actually see how
education took place at that time.
They highlight, too, leaders in the African-American community who
actually went there and taught at those schools. Remember, these
teachers did everything. They came in, they stoked the fires in the
stove, and they prepared lunches for the students. They did everything
to keep these schools running. This is a tremendous story that needs to
continue to be told across the Nation.
As I said, these are indispensable parts of our community. This bill
would authorize a study to evaluate the national significance of
selected Rosenwald School sites and determine the suitability and
feasibility of designating these sites as a unit of the National Park
System.
Madam Speaker, I urge adoption of the measure, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
Mr. GALLEGO. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Gallego) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 3250, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. GALLEGO. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to section 3 of House Resolution
965, the yeas and nays are ordered.
Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this motion
will be postponed.
Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Julius
Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools Study Act, a bill I introduced with
Representative Danny Davis and Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois. It is
also cosponsored by 43 of our colleagues in the House of
Representatives and nine Senators.
This bill would begin the process to establish a Julius Rosenwald &
Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park to focus on the incredible
impact of Julius Rosenwald, a successful entrepreneur and renowned
philanthropist who made lasting contributions to the advancement of
African American education during the twentieth century.
Mr. Rosenwald was the President of Sears, Roebuck & Company who used
his fortune to enhance the lives of others--establishing museums,
community centers, and housing as well as helping Jews in Europe and
new immigrants to the U.S. Moved by Booker T. Washington's
autobiography Up from Slavery, Mr. Rosenwald committed his time and
finances to improving the lives of African Americans. Notably, he
established the Julius Rosenwald Fund that partnered with local
communities to create over 5,300 schools in the south to address the
lack of education for African Americans. During the 1920s, 1930s, and
1940s, one-third of all African American children in the south were
educated in Rosenwald schools. A 2011 study by two Federal Reserve
economists concluded that the schools played a significant role in
narrowing the education gap between black and white students in the
south.
In addition, Mr. Rosenwald provided matching funds to communities for
construction of YMCA's for African Americans during the Jim Crow era.
The Rosenwald Fund supported the early NAACP cases that eventually led
to the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, provided fellowship to
African Americans in the arts and sciences, and supported a number of
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, including Fisk, Dillard,
and Howard. Mr. Rosenwald improved the lives of those in Chicago as
well, creating the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago and the
Museum of Science and Industry among many other local initiatives. When
I was seven years old, our first family vacation was to my mother's
hometown of Chicago. During that trip, we went to the Museum of Science
and Industry, which my mother and others referred to as ``the
Rosenwald.'' That memory led me to dig into the life of Julius
Rosenwald as an adult. My dear and late friend, Julian Bond, told me
about the Rosenwald schools and that furthered my appreciation of this
man's farsightedness, empathy and wisdom.
The esteemed contralto singer Marian Anderson, discriminated against
in the Jim Crow South, won a prestigious Julius Rosenwald Fellowship
that allowed her to tour Europe, entertaining heads of state, making
headlines in American newspapers and creating ``Marian Mania'' around
the world. Returning to the United States, she was invited by President
Franklin Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to play the White
House in 1936 and, famously, sang ``My Country 'Tis of Thee'' from the
steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday 1939 after being denied
the stage of the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall
by segregationists.
The documentary, ``Rosenwald,'' by Aviva Kempner was a fitting
tribute to Julius Rosenwald. I was privileged to be present for a
showing at the White House East Wing when Barack Obama was president
and Valerie Jarrett was his senior advisor. Ms. Jarrett's maternal
grandfather, Robert Rochon Taylor, was involved in carrying on the
legacy of Julius Rosenwald by helping to plan, build and manage what
became known as Rosenwald Courts, a multiunit housing complex in
Bonzeville.
Julius Rosenwald was a visionary philanthropist whose altruism--and
philosophy of giving embodied the Jewish concept of tzedakah--social
justice and charity. It's past time to ensure his legacy receives its
due place in history. I urge my colleagues to support the swift passage
of the Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools Study Act.
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