by datdudejbal | Aug 28, 2013 | Rosenwald Fund
Lynn Sweet, Washington Bureau Chief at the Chicago Sun-Times, published a great article today about Julius Rosenwald and The Rosenwald Schools production.
Here’s an excerpt from the article, entitled “Chicago’s ‘under-known’ hero of civil rights movement”:
The celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington — and Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech — wrap up on Wednesday with remarks by Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter at the Lincoln Memorial.
So this seems a good time to remind everyone that before the civil rights era of the 1960s, there was Chicago’s Julius Rosenwald, helping to pave the way for it.
Along with remembering Rosenwald, Sweet gives a rundown of our production to date and talks about the major stories and interviews the final film will include. Be sure to read the full article at the Sun-Times website.
Julius Rosenwald in 1929
Photo credit: Library of Congress National Photo Company Collection
by datdudejbal | Aug 16, 2013 | Rosenwald Fund
Roberta Smith reports in the New York Times (Aug. 16) that Hale Woodruff’s breathtaking set of murals, made for Talladega College in 1938, has arrived at an NYU gallery (the exhibition closes on Oct. 13th). Smith praises the “indomitable optimism” of the murals, arguing that they “teach history by making it visually riveting.” Three of the six murals expressively tell the story of the 1839 uprising on the slave ship Amistad. Click the link above to see one of Amistad series.
Hale Woodruff posing in front of one of the Talladega murals depicting the Underground Railroad
Photo credit: Library of Congress via FSA/OWI
We previously reported on the murals’ national tour in Atlanta and Chicago. At the end of the tour, the murals will return to their home in Talladega, but this exhibition in New York (their first) is a homecoming of sorts. It was likely on the strength of this work that Woodruff received Rosenwald Fund fellowships in 1943 and 1944, which allowed him to move to New York where he would work and teach until he passed away in 1980.
by datdudejbal | Aug 16, 2013 | Rosenwald Fund
From On the Potomac Productions’ (OTP) press-release:
OTP will be hosting, along with the Ciesla Foundation, a symposium at New York University-DC’s campus (NYU) entitled “Reflections on Jewish and African American Civil Rights Alliances” on August 27th on commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. The “Reflections on Jewish and African American Civil Rights Alliances,” symposium will provide an opportunity to recognize Jewish and African American constituencies who supported the March on Washington and the Civil Rights movement. The forum will discuss the evolution of the alliances, present relations and future opportunities.
At the symposium, Aviva Kempner will discuss the Ciesla Foundation’s current project, The Rosenwald Schools, which concerns a partnership of African Americans and Jews before the Civil Rights era.
On the Potomac Productions also announced that their one-hour documentary about the effort to make Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday, entitled MLK: The Making of a Holiday, will air on television stations nationwide soon in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. This is the first time MLK: The Making of a Holiday has aired in HD, and it’s a great opportunity to see the iconic moments of Dr. King’s life in more detail than ever before. Some stations that will broadcast the doc include: WMAQ Chicago NBC, WTAE Philadelphia ABC, WDIV Detroit NBC, KSTP Saint Paul ABC and WEWS Cleveland ABC.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C.
Photo credit: Sue Waters (flickr)
by datdudejbal | Aug 12, 2013 | Rosenwald Fund
Today the developer of the soon to be rehabilitated Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments, Rosenwald Courts Apartment LP, held a pre-bid conference at a nearby community center. You can read more on page 10 of 3rd Ward Alderman Pat Dowell’s newsletter or at a local development blog.
The planned number of apartments hasn’t changed since the last time we reported: the project team is planning for 97 family units and 138 senior units in the rehabilitated “Rosenwald Courts.”
We will continue to post updates to this project as we get them.
by datdudejbal | Jul 19, 2013 | Rosenwald Fund
Last Saturday, Mayor Vincent Gray and others helped inaugurate a new Heritage Walk in Washington D.C. Washington’s Heritage Walks are self-guided walking tours set up in historic neighborhoods around the city, each consisting of a series of plaques telling the history of the area or a specific site.
The Logan Circle Heritage Walk plaque in front of Ella Watson’s home
Photo credit: The Ciesla Foundation, July 18, 2013
The new tour is in Logan Circle, a neighborhood that was home to Ella Watson, famously photographed in 1942 by Gordon Parks in an provocative work he titled “American Gothic.” Parks followed Watson in her daily life for about a month, and many of the pictures in his series for the Farm Security Administration were taken in her home at 1433 11th Street NW.
1433 11th Street NW, Washington: Ella Watson’s home in 1942
Photo credit: The Ciesla Foundation, July 18, 2013
The building Watson lived in with her family still stands but is currently vacant – increasingly rare for Logan Circle, an area that has seen rapid renovation in recent history. Below you can see a picture Parks took out the front window of Watson’s second floor apartment, showing two rowhomes across the street that are also still standing at the corner of P Street NW. Click here to browse the rest of the Library of Congress’s collection of Parks’ Ella Watson photographs.
Washington, D.C. View from the bedroom window of Mrs. Ella Watson, a government worker
Photo credit: Gordon Parks, August 1942, OWI/FSA (LOC)
Another notable site on the new Logan Circle Heritage Walk is St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, designed by Calvin T.S. Brent, an early African American architect from the District of Columbia. His son, John Edmondson Brent, who designed the Rosenwald YMCA in Buffalo, was the subject of a post on this blog earlier this month.
By Michael Rose
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