Bound To Stay Bound

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Booklist - 02/01/2014 Finkelstein does a solid job of introducing both a person and a history most readers will know nothing about. Julius Rosenwald, the owner of Sears, Roebuck & Company, was determined to share his affluence with those less fortunate. As a philanthropist, he gave money to Jewish causes, as well as to the University of Chicago, and he helped build Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. But when Rosenwald met Booker T. Washington, he was taken aback to learn about the deplorable conditions of black schools in the South. Within 20 years, his foundation helped build more than 5,000 new schools in 15 southern states, but there was always one caveat: the community had to participate by raising money, providing labor, or both, which gave them a stake in the educational outcome. The text is a bit repetitive in places, but it clearly explains how the schools were built, the enthusiasm for them, their successes, and how the legacy of the Rosenwald schools lives on. The archival photographs are particularly well chosen and often moving. An introduction by Rosenwald’s grandson adds further insight. - Copyright 2014 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 03/01/2014 Gr 5–8—This highly accessible, beautifully illustrated book tells how a Jewish tycoon helped provide educational opportunities for countless African Americans. Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck, and Company, used his millions to support social causes like YMCAs, hospitals, and universities. In 1911, his life's purpose was forever changed after reading Up from Slavery and then meeting the author, Booker T. Washington, who introduced him to the deplorable educational opportunities offered African Americans in the South. Rosenwald put his personal philosophy of "Give While You Live" into practice by establishing the Rosenwald Fund for "the well-being of mankind." Its largest accomplishment was to help build, furnish, and staff schools for African Americans in the rural South. Before the program ended in 1932, it had contributed funds to help build more than 5300 schools. Rosenwald Schools, as they were known, operated until the 1960s when they were closed due to forced school integration. Rosenwald did not just give money to build schools-he required community "buy-in" from both the black and white communities in an effort to promote racial reconciliation. This is a fascinating look at how one man's vision changed the lives of more than 600,000 people through increased educational opportunities. The book is superbly illustrated with numerous black-and-white, excellently captioned photos. A first purchase, and of special interest for Jewish collections and communities with Rosenwald Schools.—Lisa Crandall, formerly at the Capital Area District Library, Holt, MI - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 06/01/2014 Inspired by the teaching of Rabbi Emil Hirsch, Sears, Roebuck president Julius Rosenwald developed a personal philosophy of philanthropy and expanded on his early career goal of making $15,000 a year-keeping a third for living expenses, saving a third for the future, and giving a third to charity. A successful businessman at the dawn of the twentieth century, he looked for worthy causes and found an ideal collaboration with Booker T. Washington, whose philosophy of self-help leading to social advancement meshed well with his own. Working at first through Washington’s Tuskegee Institute and later through his own foundation, Rosenwald established schools for black children throughout the South, setting strict expectations for matching funds and long-term management through the extant public school systems. Finkelstein examines the philanthropic activities of the man readers may have met in Carole Boston Weatherford’s fictional Dear Mr. Rosenwald (BCCB 10/06). This work delves more deeply into Rosenwald’s other charitable work and ably contextualizes the school-building program within the “separate but equal” social mandate that was then the law of the land. Plenty of black and white photos and architectural plans provide a vivid picture of the before-and-after state of post-Civil War black schools, and they also bring readers up to date on current preservation efforts. Index, citations, and print and online sources are included. EB - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

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