The National Park Service (NPS) has identified opportunities to establish a national historic site and network program to preserve the legacies of Julius Rosenwald and the Rosenwald Schools via its Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools Special Resource Study. The study, which NPS today announced it transmitted to Congress, identifies Maryland’s San Domingo School in Wicomico County as a candidate to become a national historic site.
The San Domingo School is a special piece of Maryland – and American – history, representing not only the legacy of Rosenwald Schools, but also the free Black men and women who founded the small Eastern Shore community. Of the more than 5,000 Rosenwald program buildings constructed, 156 of the school and ancillary structures were built in Maryland; only a fraction of those structures still remain and just four in Wicomico County. The Rosenwald schools were a tremendous partnership and helped fill a significant need in providing educational opportunities to Black children, and we are in full support of granting it a national historic site designation.
Nicholas Redding, President & CEO, Preservation Maryland
A result of a partnership between Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee Institute and Julius Rosenwald, President of Sears, Roebuck and Company, the Rosenwald Fund providing matching grants for more than 5,000 schools, shops and teacher’s residences built in 15 southern states, between 1917 and 1931.The schools became obsolete in 1954 with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed segregation in public education. Many of the schools were abandoned or demolished and their invaluable contributions forgotten.
In 2020, Congress directed the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study (SRS) of sites associated with the life and legacy of Julius Rosenwald, with a special focus on the Rosenwald Schools, to determine their potential as an addition to the National Park System. The NPS prepared the study on behalf of the Secretary.
Per a release from NPS, the study further recommends that Congress establish a Rosenwald School Network Program, which would provide essential resources and support to the numerous entities across the nation already dedicated to preserving and celebrating these historic schools. A Network could also help interpret the pivotal role of Black leaders, such as Washington, the Tuskegee Institute, and the role of over 5,000 Black communities in the development of the schools. A network program could support community-driven preservation and local efforts by partnering with communities to support telling their stories and provide technical assistance and/or grants, pending congressional authorization.