BALTIMORE — Before schools in Southern states were officially desegregated, the president of Sears, Roebuck and Company funded thousands of schools for Black students in the 1920s and 1930s.
The "Rosenwald schools" were built in 20 Maryland counties at the time, and about 50 still exist today.
Now three of the schools could get national historic status, thanks to a $30,000 federal grant that's going toward a project to nominate the schools to the national historic register.
The Maryland Historical Trust announced the grant today.
The trust said in a press release:
"Rosenwald Schools tell a critically important story in the history of education. These schools received assistance from the Julius Rosenwald Fund, created by the president of Sears, Roebuck, and Company to construct school buildings for Black children in the early twentieth century. The foundation provided seed money, while the local Black community and county boards of education provided the majority of construction costs. In addition to funding, the Rosenwald Foundation also provided state-of-the-art architectural plans for school construction, featuring banks of windows so students could learn in a healthful environment that was well-lit and ventilated."
A previous document sent to the National Register of Historic Placesdocuments 10 such schools still standing in Anne Arundel County, out of an original 23.
The state has not yet chosen which three schools will be nominated. Maryland Historical Trust will choose a consultant and work with them, along with county planners and local stakeholders, to identify the three schools.
The funding is coming from the federal Underrepresented Community grant. Maryland has gotten the grant before to survey and document the Civil Rights Movement, Women’s Suffrage Movement, Asian American heritage, American Indian heritage, and an update to the Chestertown Historic District.
