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<br /> �-iE NOS OBSERIDORTH kOLNA
<br /> _ MONDAY,APRIL 13, 1998 J6. 3 _
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<br /> In 1928, Sears magnate -was stocking th state with schools
<br /> eventy years ago this month,the Americans here.Rosenwald schools are to build black schools if local What they didn't have in money,black Rosenwald's trip to Method was the
<br /> president of Sears,Roebuck and Co. in 86 of North Carolina's 100 counties. communities would match them with parents supplied in wagon teams to haul first time he attended the dedication of
<br /> came down from Chicago to Raleigh Wake County alone had 26 Rosenwald public and private funds—a combination bricks and timber,and they offered their any of the 4,200 schools he helped build in
<br /> to get his fast look at one of the hundreds schools,five of which are still standing. of white noblesse oblige and black self- skills in painting,bricklaying and cacpen- the South and gave credit to the black
<br /> of schools he helped build in North Rosenwald,born to determination. try. leaders and school officials.
<br /> Carolina. - Jewish emigre par- At the time,funding for North "As one school official noted at the time, Touring the school,an emotional
<br /> This was when Sears was the merchan- ents from Germany, Carolina's segregated schools was gross- the money and labor given by black Rosenwald commented:"It shows you
<br /> dising behemoth,and every family had a could draw certain ly unequal.The daily expenditure for school builders appear all the`more what these Negroes will do for themselves
<br /> copy of its catalogue in their house—and , t parallels between his white students throughout the state was remarkable when we consider the(condi- if you give them the opportunity."
<br /> maybe their outhouse.This was when ,"•_,� family's struggle and 19 cents,while the average spent on tions oft poverty'in which those people All of this is not ancient history to Nora
<br /> Sears was Wal-Mart,Kmart and J.C. those of blacks, black children was 11 cents.White teach- lived,"Leloudis writes."In order to Lockhart,a member of the school's first
<br /> Penney all rolled into one. '% according to Univer- ers earned$800 a year,while black teach- secure their contributions,old folks graduating class.She remembers Berry
<br /> - So it was a big occasion when,on April sity of North Caro- ers earned$436 a year.The average value scraped together`pennies,nickels and O'Kelly,a black civic leader,hauling,at
<br /> 4, 1928,Julius Rosenwald arrived to dedi- DD,�, lina historian James of white school houses per child was$155, dimes,'while schoolchildren sacrificed his own expense,black children from
<br /> Cate the 11-room Berry O'Kelly High 1WB Leloudis,who gives compared with$39 for black schools. their`lunches and other things children Apex and Holly Springs to attend the
<br /> School in Method,a small,black CHRISTENSEN an account of the Most black children attended schools in love."' school.
<br /> settlement started by former slaves on Rosenwald schools* hovels that state education official N.C. Rosenwald donated roughly$55U,000 "It produced doctors,lawyers,preach-
<br /> the western outskirts of Raleigh. in his book"School- Newbold once described as"a disgrace to for schools in North Carolina.Black par- ers,school teachers and principals,"says i
<br /> Rosenwald provided a big wad of the ing the New South." an independent,civilized people." ents put up$590,000.And local school offi- Lockhart,now 93,a retired Raleigh
<br /> money to build the school.In fact,the Rosenwald witnessed a mass migration Rosenwald's offer galvanized black cials contributed$2.4 million in tax school principal with a master's degree
<br /> O'Kelly High School was the 4,000th to the South Side of Chicago of backs communities across North Carolina to money. from Columbia University.
<br /> school in the rural South that Rosenwald from the South,tripling the city's African- raise matching money. North Carolina's effort drew visits by Berry O'Kelly High School was the
<br /> had helped build. American population between 1910 and In Aberdeen,a small farming commu- the British Colonial Office,which was state's first black accredited high school.
<br /> The state he helped the most was 1920. nity in Moore County,for example, looking at programs it might adopt in its It was closed in 1967 and is now a Raleigh
<br /> North Carolina.Rosenwald was At the urging of his friend Booker T. parents collected$425 among themselves African colonies. park.Only the gymnasium is still stand-
<br /> instrumental in building a stunning 813 Washington,Rosenwald set out to as matching money for a new school— The News&Observer's story on ing.But its legacy,like all the Rosenwald
<br /> secondary and elementary schools in improve the education of young black no small feat in an area where no black Rosenwald's visit ran on the front page schools,will last.
<br /> Jiorth Carolina between,1917 and 1931, Southerners.He formed the Julius resident owned more than$500 worth of next to a story on the Teapot Dome Rob Christensen can be reached
<br /> transforming education for African- Rosenwald Fund in 1917,providing grants property. scandal. of 8294S32 or of robcQnando.com
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