[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2206-2207]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HISTORIC ROSENWALD SCHOOLS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Arkansas (Mr. Hill) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, for recently freed African Americans, 
education denied to them under slavery was a critical component of 
understanding freedom.
  In the wake of the Civil War, with the widespread awareness that 
education was essential to the advancement of a free people in this 
society, African Americans flocked to schools established by the 
Freedmen's Bureau.
  The recognition of this relationship between schools, community, and 
the broader ideal of the American Dream led African American parents 
and teachers to be among the first Southerners to advocate for 
universal public education.
  However, the dual education system that arose, determined by race and 
based on the fiction of separate but equal, brought about a hand-me-
down approach to Black education in the South. This flawed duality 
resulted in the perpetuation and exacerbation of institutional 
inequity.
  In the face of such obstacles, leaders like Booker T. Washington, 
founder of the Tuskegee Institute, embraced and expanded on the early 
belief in education as the great hope of a truly democratic society.
  Washington's vision inspired many, including philanthropist and 
president of Sears Roebuck, Julius Rosenwald.
  The philanthropic and educational partnership between these two men 
led to the construction of 5,000 Rosenwald schools across 15 Southern 
States. In Arkansas, 389 school buildings were constructed in 45 of our 
75 counties, with communities pooling their often meager resources to 
fulfill Rosenwald's pledge to match their contribution.
  For many, these buildings were not simply schools but monuments to 
Black achievement and symbols for an ardent hope in a better future. 
Rosenwald schools contributed to the education of thousands of African 
American students across the American South, including notable figures 
like Arkansas poet Maya Angelou and our own esteemed colleague and 
friend, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis).
  In 1954, with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of 
Education, to which Julius Rosenwald contributed one-third of the 
litigation costs, his carefully crafted schools became obsolete. In 
Arkansas, the tensions behind this great achievement played out in the 
tumultuous 1957 Little Rock Central High crisis. The courageous 
determination of the Little Rock Nine hearkens back to that fundamental 
belief in education equals freedom.
  This is the continuing legacy of Washington, of Rosenwald, and the 
countless parents and teachers who were determined to give future 
generations the means of mobility, economic advancement, opportunity.
  In 2002, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed 
Rosenwald schools as one of America's most 11 endangered places. Today 
in Arkansas, only 18 of those original school buildings remain. One of 
those remaining

[[Page 2207]]

buildings is in the Second Congressional District. The only Rosenwald 
school to be built in Perry County, the Bigelow Rosenwald School, was 
constructed in 1926.
  After 38 years of service toward education, the Bigelow Rosenwald 
School was transformed into a community center. With a revival of 
interest in and knowledge about the schools, efforts are being formed 
around the country to restore these embodiments of our history.
  Aviva Kempner's documentary ``Rosenwald'' pays tribute to the man, 
his work, and the rippling impact on the evolution of African American 
education in our country.
  As we celebrate Black History Month, I rise to recognize how far we 
have come, how far we still must traverse, and pay a special salute to 
Julius Rosenwald and his contributions to the advancement of education.

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