The New York Times, and their writer Brent Staples are to be commended for shedding light on racism in health care. Discrimination in health care practice, against both practitioners and recipients, has been an undercurrent of overall racism in U.S. history. The new “Showtime” tv series “The Knick” features a controversially innovative New York City hospital at the turn of the 20th century, where an accomplished African American physician encounters prejudice and the hospital’s acerbic chief of surgery Dr. Thackery, portrayed by Clive Owen. Andre Holland plays the gifted Black surgeon, Dr. Algernon Edwards, who is assigned menial tasks, discreetly treats Black patients in the hospital’s basement, and lives in a flophouse in a rundown section of the city. Edwards’ fictional plight recalls the real life challenges faced by medical pioneer Dr. Charles Drew (1904-1950), whose development of blood plasma banks saved the lives of thousands, including Allied soldiers during World War Two. Drew’s daughter, former D.C. City Councilwoman Charlene Drew Jarvis, is interviewed in the film “The Rosenwald Schools”. Dr. Drew finished Howard University because of a Rosenwald Fellowship that allowed him to complete his studies. In the 1930’s Drew assumed a clandestine residency at Harlem’s Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, under the tutelage of a doctor far more supportive than “The Knick”‘s Thackery.
New York Times writer Brent Staples’ October 13 column addresses medical racism vis-a-vis “The Knick”, and Dr. Drew:
Award winning veteran journalist and news panelist Clarence Page is an interviewee in The Rosenwald Schools. At 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 26,, 2014, Page will read from a thirty year compilation of his columns, at Politics & Prose Bookstore at 5015 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. in Washington, D.C.
Page has long been associated with Chicago, where Julius Rosenwald lived, and helped build the Wabash Avenue YMCA. One of the nation’s most recognized columnists and broadcast commentators, Page has earned a Pulitzer Prize and a National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group. His new book Culture Worrier: Selected Columns 1984-2014: Reflections on Race, Politics and Social Change marks the 30th anniversary of Page’s print debut in The Chicago Tribune. The collection represents the impressive range and depth of his commentary on social issues, foreign policy, and politics.
Jewish Folk Arts Festival The festival continues Sunday with an excerpt from Aviva Kempner’s latest historical documentary, synagogue choirs and cantors, Klezmer bands, art exhibits, university and youth a cappella groups, children’s craft activities, a teen lounge and music jam, Israeli dancing, kosher food and workshops. 1-6 p.m. Sunday at the Universities at Shady Grove, 9630 Gudelsky Dr., Rockville. 301-587-1739. www.jewishfolkartsfestival.com. $10, seniors and students $5, preschoolers free, family maximum $4
The Orangeburg, South Carolina Times and Democratreports that research is underway to determine if a building on the campus of South Carolina State College was the teacherage for a Rosenwald School that once stood on the campus. The Felton County Training School was built in 1925 and, like many Rosenwald Schools, was accompanied by a teacher’s home. Although the school itself was demolished long ago, local historians believe that the building which today houses the student services center once housed the Rosenwald School’s teachers.
Felton County Training School has a famous alumnus. Eugene Robinson, one of our first interviewees for The Rosenwald Schools, attended Felton as a child. In our film, Robinson talks about the carefully considered architecture of the school which allowed for plenty of light and “useful space” for the students.
According to the Capital Gazette, a historic marker will be unveiled at the site of the Phumphrey Rosenwald School in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, this Saturday, November 29th. From the article:
The committee believes that honoring the second site with a commemorative plaque honors the contribution of the philanthropist, Julius Rosenwald and the contributions that students who attended the elementary school made to the local and state communities by becoming tradesmen, entrepreneurs, church leaders, clergy, federal workers, teachers, principals, and community organizers.
Many thanks to Robert Fitzgerald for organizing a screening of our work in progress at the North Sarasota Library over the weekend. The event was held on Saturday, November 22, and the audience responded to the work in progress screening with warm applause. We were excited to hear from Robert about two of the audience members, Kate Harris and Lt. Col. George Hardy of the Tuskegee Airmen, have personal connections to the Rosenwald story.
Kate Harris is the daughter of Dr. Kenneth Clark, a noted African American educator, Civil Rights activist and psychologist who received a Rosenwald grant in 1940. Along with his wife, Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark (who received consecutive Rosenwald grants to study psychology in 1940, 1941 and 1942), Dr. Kenneth Clark contributed vital testimony in Brown v. Board of Education, where the Supreme Court found that school segregation led to a “feeling of inferiority” among black students.
Also joining the discussion was Lt. Col George Hardy of the Tuskegee Airmen. Lt. Col. Hardy trained at Tuskegee in 1944 at the Army air field funded by the Rosenwald Fund and served during World War II. The Rosenwald Fund’s involvement with the Tuskegee Airmen will be shown in the final cut of The Rosenwald Schools, scheduled to be released in 2015.
We’re so glad Robert Fitzgerald reached out to us about screening our work in progress. It sounds like he organized a wonderful event. Please contact cieslafdn@gmail.com if you would like to discuss screening the work in progress of The Rosenwald Schools at your upcoming event.
According to The New York Times‘ ArtBeat column, a new Center for the Study of Women’s History is planned by the New-York Historical Society, slated to open in late 2016. Among the new building’s features is a large-scale multimedia video that highlights significant female leaders from the past, including Zora Neale Hurston, who received a Rosenwald grant in 1935 to study anthropology.
You can read more about the project at ArtBeat. The editor of The Rosenwald Schools, Marian Sears Hunter, also worked on a great documentary about Zora called Jump at the Sun.
On September 10, 2014, until September 12, 2015, the Library of Congress exhibition “The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle For Freedom”, will be on display. The exhibition commemorates the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act. Interviewees from “The Rosenwald Schools” are part of the images in the exhibition, including Julian Bond and his colleague Rep. John Lewis, who is shown in a photograph on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington. Julian Bond provides narration for an introductory film for the exhibit on the Civil Rights Act and John Lewis appears in a second introductory film on the impact of the legislation. As a child, John Lewis attended a Rosenwald School in Alabama.
On Wednesday, November 5, 2014, at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s Behring Center, Aviva Kempner, filmmaker of “The Rosenwald Schools”, attended a Director’s Preview and Reception commemorated the opening of “Rising Up: Hale Woodruff’s Murals at Talladega College”. We reported here in August that it was likely that Woodruff was awarded his Rosenwald Fellowships in 1943 and 1944 on the strength of this work. Two of the Woodfruff works in this exhibit were painted under Rosenwald Fellowships, including the painting “Poor Man’s Cotton”. This support allowed Woodruff to move away from the segregated South, to New York City, where he worked and taught the rest of his life.
The murals depict chapters from African American history such as The Amistad Trial, and The Underground Railroad. Woodruff, like Julius Rosenwald, was a native of Illinois, born in Cairo.
The exhibit runs at the Museum of American History through March 1, 2015.
Last night, my generous friends Matt and Lena Frumin held a parlor party fundraiser for the film at their home in Washington, DC. It was great fun meeting their friends and presenting the work in progress of The Rosenwald Schools.
Doug Singer and Jerimiah Cohen contributed delicious food to the dinner. Jerimiah has offered to make free delivery of food ordered to his company if you give $2,500 or more to the Ciesla Foundation.
Jeremiah Cohen of Bullfrog Bagels with Matt and Lena Frumin
Photo credit: The Ciesla Foundation, Nov 2014
Julian Bond, a consultant to the film, was also on hand to talk about his family’s connections to the Rosenwald Fund and how he inspired me to the make the documentary.
Councilmember-elect Brianne Nadeau, Lorie Masters, Councilmember Mary Cheh and Ward 3 school board member elect Ruth Wattenberg
Photo credit: The Ciesla Foundation, Nov 2014
In attendance were some of DC’s finest public officials. If you would like to hold a fundraising parlor party, please contact cieslafdn@gmail.com. We would be most grateful for help in finishing the film and you would be listed among the end credits. The Ciesla Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and all contributions are tax-deductible.
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