A house RESOLUTION

to RECOGNIZE AND HONOR the philanthropic work done by Julius rosenwald and booker t. washington towards the advancement of education FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS in the south, AND TO DECLARE Tuesday, fEBRUARY 28, 2023, AS "ROSENWALD SCHOOL DAY" IN SOUTH CAROLINA.

Whereas, the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives take great pleasure in honoring those who give their lives for the betterment of their community and whose contributions make the Palmetto State a better place to live; and

Whereas, Julius Rosenwald, a progressive Jewish American from Chicago and the president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and Booker T. Washington, a former slave, educator, and founder of the Tuskegee Institute, met at a fundraiser in 1911, and discovered they had similar goals of improving Southern education. Together, they formed a partnership and established a program that gave African American communities funding to build and supply schools for Black students between 1913 and 1932. These schools became known as Rosenwald Schools; and

Whereas, the Rosenwald Fund required African American communities and its white school district to match Rosenwald Fund grants with money raised by the community and land they owned to ensure education for their children in an effort to encourage communities to work together in building the schools; and

Whereas, during this partnership, four hundred eighty-six Rosenwald Schools were built in South Carolina, with at least one in every county. Over one third of African American students in the South attended a Rosenwald School in the first half of the twentieth century; and

Whereas, Rosenwald Schools also served as community meeting spaces and were an important gathering place for the civil rights movement in South Carolina; and

Whereas, despite the integral role Rosenwald Schools played in African American education and the civil rights movement, most buildings have fallen into disrepair or have been demolished, their land and stories lost with them; and

Whereas, the remaining Rosenwald School buildings and school sites are invaluable cultural resources that should be protected and restored; and

Whereas, the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives greatly appreciate the dedication and commitment of Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington in their mission to serve the African American community in South Carolina and throughout the South. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, recognize and honor the philanthropic work done by Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington towards the advancement of education for African Americans in the South, and declare Tuesday, February 28, 2023, as "Rosenwald School Day" in South Carolina.

----XX----