The Smithville Rosenwald School is restored as a community center, on Randolph Road just east of New Hampshire Avenue. Julius Rosenwald funded some of the first schools for African American communities.
Potomac Community Village continues its tradition of special programs for members and the general public with a talk on Julius Rosenwald and his legacy of funding schools for African American communities.
Rosenwald, an executive with Sears, Roebuck, Inc. partnered with communities in 15 states to build 5,000 schools between 1912 and 1932 to educate African American students, mostly in the South.
“Of the more than 5,000 Rosenwald program buildings constructed, 156 of the schools and ancillary structures were built in Maryland – and 53 of those structures remain,” according to preservationmaryland.org website.
Dorothy Canter, author and President of the Board of Directors of the Julius Rosenwald & Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park Campaign, and Stephanie Deutsch, wife of Julius Rosenwald’s great-grandson, David, and author of You Need a Schoolhouse: Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald and the Building of Schools for the Segregated South, will speak. The talk will be held from 7-9 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Potomac Community Center, 11315 Falls Road.
Cantor will share information on the progress of the National Park planned to honor Rosenfeld’s legacy. The hope is to have a visitor’s center in Chicago and a number of restored schoolhouses selected by the National Park Service.
“Together with Stephanie Deutsch, wife of Julius Rosenwald’s great-grandson, David, and author of You Need a Schoolhouse: Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald and the Building of Schools for the Segregated South, I am delighted to promote to the members and guests of Potomac Community Village our campaign, and hope to enlist their support to recognize and honor this extraordinary American through the National Park System, an entity I have been associated with for over thirty years,” Canter said. “I am privileged to highlight the significant role played by the over 5,300 schools Julius Rosenwald built and maintained that helped to educate one-third of the black students in the South and narrow the wide gap between black and white students of the time.”
Potomac Community Village is a non-profit network of neighbors and friends geared to enabling older Potomac residents to age in place in their existing homes by creating social connections and providing volunteer services such as transportation, computer assistance and simple home repairs. For more information, to volunteer or get volunteer help, contact 240-221-1370, info@ PotomacCommunityVillage.org or check out www.PotomacCommunityVillage.org or www.Facebook.com/PotomacCommunityVillage.