Tyler in Smith County, Texas — The American South (West South Central)
Rosenwald School Building Program in East Texas
Photographed By Gloria Washington
1. Rosenwald School Building Program in East Texas Marker
The school program cooperatively brought together Blacks, Whites, and Rosenwald, together building 536 school projects across Texas. The Black community in Texas contributed an estimated $390,000, with $419,376 from Rosenwald.
Tuskegee University provided building plans and helped coordinate the Black efforts. Black communities provided land, money, and labor, as did White School Districts. The Rosenwald Fund provided matching grants. Many of the schools were two-to-four-room buildings. The Rosenwald Fund closed in 1948. It had built 5,388 schools and buildings in the 15 states of the South.
Texas Historically Black Colleges, Texas College, Wiley, Huston-Tillotson, Bishop, Jarvis, Butler, Paul Quinn, Prairie View College, and others educated many of the teachers needed for the schools. Schools and education became the keys to transforming the future.
Erected 2024 by Texas African American Museum, Empowerment Community
this page online
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Education.
Location. 32° 22.226′ N, 95° 18.237′ W. Marker is in Tyler, Texas, in Smith County. Marker is at the intersection of West Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard and Ramey Avenue, on the left when traveling west on West Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard. The marker is on the front lawn of the Texas African American Museum. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 309 W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd,, Tyler TX 75702, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Major James P. Douglas / Good-Douglas Texas Battery (approx. 0.6 miles away); Colonel Bryan Marsh / Texas Civil War Manufacturing (approx. 0.9 miles away); Goodman Home, 1857 (approx. one mile away); Tyler Tap Railroad (approx. 1.1 miles away); Judge Stockton P. Donley (approx. 1.2 miles away); Richard Bennett Hubbard (approx. 1.2 miles away); The Patterson Home (approx. 1.2 miles away); Oakwood Cemetery (approx. 1.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Tyler.
Regarding Rosenwald School Building Program in East Texas. Julius Rosenwald, a wealthy Jewish American Philanthropist,
Photographed By Jerry Klinger
2. Rosenwald School Building Program in East Texas Marker -Side Two
Images of representative schools, a school design template and a key to the school construction program in East Texas
"The true measure of wealth is not in material possessions, but in the impact we make on the lives of others."
Rosenwald used his enormous wealth to build over 5,000 Schools for Black American children. By the time his school building program had been completed, nearly 1/3 of all Black American children attended a Rosenwald school.
Rosenwald's, "Tikkun Olam", repairing the world, significantly transformed America.
Also see . . .
1. Historical marker for Rosenwald Schools unveiled at Tyler's Texas African American Museum.
On a cloudy, gray Saturday afternoon, people gathered outside the Texas African American Museum in Tyler for the unveiling of a historical marker commemorating Smith County’s 17 Rosenwald Schools.(Submitted on March 23, 2024, by Jerry Klinger of Boynton Beach, Florida.)
The Rosenwald Schools were funded by Jewish philanthropist Julius Rosenwald in partnership with Booker T. Washington to help address education gaps for Black Americans in the rural South after the Civil War. The historical marker was donated by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation.
2. Rosenwald Schools in Texas.
Julius Rosenwald was an unlikely fairy godfather.(Submitted on March 23, 2024, by Jerry Klinger of Boynton Beach, Florida.)But Rosenwald, child of German-Jewish immigrants and a high-school dropout, was just that for more than half a million poor, mostly rural, Southern black children in the 1920s, including more than 50,000 in Texas. Rosenwald made it possible for them to receive an education in decent, attractive surroundings.Photographed By Jerry Klinger3. Rosenwald School Building Program in East Texas MarkerRosenwald marker on the front lawn of the Texas African American Museum.
3. Rosenwald - Fund - Schools - 1912-1932.
Rosenwald held education in high regard and considered it the key to African American progress. He also observed that support for black educational opportunities in the South was compromised by the racial policies of white supremacy. Rosenwald determined to support black education through Alabama at first and eventually across the entire region by providing funds for the construction of rural schools and for teacher salaries and school supplies. Rosenwald also stipulated that the support would last for thirty years only. After that point local organizations were to assume support for these schools. Booker T. Washington persuaded Rosenwald to extend his support to allow for the construction of houses for teachers in rural communities. The first two schools supported by the Rosenwald Fund were built near Tuskegee.(Submitted on March 23, 2024, by Jerry Klinger of Boynton Beach, Florida.)
4. Texas African American Museum . The marker is located on the front lawn of the Texas African American Museum in Tyler, Texas.
To explore, Expand, Preserve, and Educate those who are interested in our History, Culture and Contributions to our Society, Through Photographs, Artifacts, and Likeness.(Submitted on March 23, 2024, by Jerry Klinger of Boynton Beach, Florida.)
Historical preservation of these incidents is not only important, but necessary, and often the action of record keeping itself can be a form of remembrance and redress for a community. The Texas African American Museum, located in Tyler, Texas, was created with this idea in mind.
Credits. This page was last revised on March 24, 2024. It was originally submitted on March 23, 2024, by Jerry Klinger of Boynton Beach, Florida. This page has been viewed 199 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on March 23, 2024, by Jerry Klinger of Boynton Beach, Florida. • James Hulse was the editor who published this page.
