by Cieslafdn | Feb 1, 2015 | Rosenwald Fund, Social Justice Work
Civil Rights leader Congressman John Lewis has recently completed the second volume of his civil rights trilogy, March: Book Two. On Wednesday February 4th 2015, Busboys and Poets Brookland will be hosting a book talk with Lewis and Andrew Aydin. The graphic memoir is a collaboration between him, artist Nate Powell, and writer Andrew Aydin. In the second part of his journey through the civil rights movement, Lewis tells us about the challenges faced as a Freedom Rider, being beaten and locked up despite his nonviolent protests. Towards the end of this book he is elected leader of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and preparing to participate in the historic March on Washington.
Featured in this documentary, John Lewis is a former Rosenwald School student. Julius Rosenwald’s philanthropic efforts greatly impacted his education and future as a young change agent during a trying time for blacks in America.
To get a seat at this event, register for free on the Busboys’ website. It also will be streamed online.
Erica Marshall, Winter Intern
by Cieslafdn | Jan 15, 2015 | Rosenwald Fund
On a National Geographic-Liblad cruise, Stephanie Deutsch got the chance to see Antarctica, where there is a mountain named after Julius Rosenwald. The mountain “forms a distinctive landmark between the heads of the Baldwin and Gallup glaciers in the Queen Maud mountains.” It was discovered by Rear Admiral Richard Byrd in 1929, who named it after Rosenwald. It is an example of how Rosenwald’s influence can be found all over, or, as Aviva Kempner likes to say, “all roads lead to Rosenwald.”
Click
here to read more about Mount Rosenwald on Stephanie’s blog.
by Cieslafdn | Jan 15, 2015 | Rosenwald Fund
For the first time since 1994, all sixty panels from Jacob Lawrence’s Migration of the Negro (commonly known as the Migration Series) will be reunited and displayed in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at the Downtown Gallery in New York City. In an exhibition entitled “One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series and Other Visions of the Great Movement North,” the display will be open to the public from April until September of 2015. In 2016, the panels will go to the Phillips Collection here in Washington, DC to be shown.
These narrative paintings were created during the early 1940s, a time when many African Americans were migrating from the Jim Crow South to the North. Only 23 years old when creating this work of art, Lawrence used resources provided from the Rosenwald Fund and to travel to the South and witness firsthand the segregation and blatant racism in rural communities to serve as his inspiration for the series. Additionally, he addresses the struggles and triumphs of the migration using his personal experiences in the North as a child and young adult.
Although Julius Rosenwald expressed very little interest in art, his wife Adele Rosenwald Levy collected art and was drawn to Lawrence’s work and more than willing to make a contribution. She specifically loved panel 46, the reason why the even-number panels are in MoMA and the odd-number panels are located here in the Phillips Collection. This acquisition by Adele and the Rosenwald fund helped Lawrence to become the major figure in American art that he is still considered to be today.
For more info about the Migration Series, Jacob Lawrence and how to see the panel displays click below to view this article by the New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/arts/design/jacob-lawrences-great-migration-series-returns-to-moma.html
Erica Marshall, Winter Intern
by Cieslafdn | Jan 6, 2015 | Rosenwald Fund
Today marks the 83rd anniversary of Julius Rosenwald’s death. W.E.B. DuBois, co-founder of the NAACP and Rosenwald grant recipient, memorialized Rosenwald in The Crisis magazine by writing, “He was a great man, but he was no mere philanthropist. He was, rather, the subtle, stinging critic of our racial democracy.” Remembered in his own time for his remarkable deeds, Rosenwald’s accomplishments are hardly known today. We’re so excited to be premiering the film on February 25th at the Washington Jewish Film Festival and finally bringing Rosenwald the recognition today he so deserves.
Rosenwald’s name is slowly becoming a household name again. After sitting over a decade in disrepair, the Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments have
finally received a permit to be renovated. Known to its original residents as The Rosenwald Apartments, the restored complex will honor its roots and take the name The Rosenwald Courts. Although this project will take many years to complete, we’re glad that Rosenwald’s name will once again be known in the south side of Chicago. The world needs many more Rosenwalds.
The Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments in 2007
Photo credit: SilverRaven7 (flickr) by Cieslafdn | Dec 29, 2014 | Rosenwald Fund
A new book, “Driving the King” by Ravi Howard, offers a glimpse into the struggles of the early civil rights movement through the eyes of Nat King Cole and his fictitious best friend, Nat Weary. Although the novel is set among the backdrop of real events, such as the Montgomery bus boycotts, the specifics of Mr. Cole’s experiences during the 1950s are admittedly made up.
A reviewer in the New York Times points out, “But even this book’s distortions suggest a man whose story remains barely told, while few white singers of his day are without up-to-date biographers.” While Nat King Cole may be lacking the recognition an authentic biography affords, suggesting perhaps the racial barriers he faced in his career and reflected in the novel still linger today, his popularity is hardly forgotten. Timuel Black, an interviewee in
The Rosenwald Schools, fondly remembers Nat King Cole as one of the many illustrious African American celebrities who visited the Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments. Cole is pictured in the film along with other Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartment visitors Langston Hughes and Marian Anderson.
Read more about the book
here by Cieslafdn | Aug 27, 2014 | Rosenwald Fund
According to The New York Times, Sears Holdings, owner of Sears and Kmart stores, lost “nearly a billion dollars” in the first half of this year. Although recent retail earnings among its competitors have been “lackluster” across the board, Sears has performed among the worst. While Sears has worked to expand its “Shop Your Way” rewards program, with personalized deals for loyal shoppers and improve its online sales, it has lagged behind competitors in both these arenas as well.
It’s been tragic to watch the once dominant mail order (and, later, retail) giant’s decline over the years. During Julius Rosenwald’s tenure as head of Sears, the company capitalized on emerging technology in the field of mail order marketing to become a retail bohemoth. Unfortunately, as catalogue-based purchasing decreased, Sears lagged behind other companies like Walmart and Amazon.com in expanding and innovating new retail paradigms like the big box store and online mail order shopping.
Click here to read more at The New York Times.
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