Julius Rosenwald saw a need in the Jim Crow South and he thought he could contribute a solution. The Rosenwald School Project was the brainchild of Booker T. Washington and Rosenwald and built 5,000 simple, primarily wooden structures to serve more than 700,000 students between 1917 and 1932.
Rosenwald was part-owner and president of Sears, Roebuck, and Company. His way of funding these schools was to set up a matching grant for the Black community, who more than matched Rosenwald’s 4.3 million dollars with their 6 million dollars. Not only did the black community help, but the white school boards also helped. These schools were built away from the opposition and scattered across the Southern states. The Rosenwald School Project was more successful than the Freedman’s Bureau education program.
The Rosenwald School graduated leaders such as Medger Evans, John Lewis, Maya Angelou, and Eugene Robinson. All students had a unique opportunity for success. Julius also gave $1,000 grants to Gordon Parks, Kathern Dunham, John Hope Franklin, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois, Marian Anderson, and Jacob Laurence.
In addition, Julius gave $25,000 for each of the 27 YMCAs built with matching funds raised of $75,000 each. He also founded the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago but wanted to keep his name off the building. Julius did not want his name on the 5,000 schools he built, but that came later. He was indeed a humble benefactor. The only building in Chicago with his name on it is the admissions building at the University of Chicago.
His foundation ended twenty-five years after his death.