[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.

                          ____________________