by Cieslafdn | Aug 23, 2012 | Rosenwald Fund
Theater J in Washington D.C. has released its schedule for the 2012-2013 season and several of the productions sound very intriguing. One is The Hampton Years, by Jacqueline E. Lawton, which will have its world premiere on May 29th at Theater J and run until June 30th. Lawton’s play, based on a true story, is set between 1939 and 1946 at Hampton University and deals with two young artists named John Biggers and Samella Lewis who are taught by an Austrian Jewish immigrant named Viktor Lowenfeld. The small cast includes two more artists, Rosenwald Fund grantees Elizabeth Catlett and Charles White, who, according to an interview with Lawton, play the part of “mentors and instigators” to the young artists. It’s a fascinating story and it resonates with the Rosenwald Fund in two ways. It’s another example of a remarkable pre-Civil Rights partnership between Jews and African Americans, but it also shows how Rosenwald fellows often went on to mentor other artists.
Coming this November to Theater J is a play about another Rosenwald fellow, Woody Guthrie. Woody Sez: The Life & Music of Woody Guthrie tells the story of Guthrie’s life through music. The cast consists of four “actor/musicians” who will play a variety of parts and instruments. This production is one of many tributes taking place this year, marking what would have been the late Guthrie’s 100th birthday. Woody Sez plays from November 8th to December 2nd at Theater J.
By Michael Rose
by Cieslafdn | Aug 10, 2012 | Rosenwald Fund
Astronaut John Mace Grunsfeld was recently on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” to talk about NASA’s new Mars rover, Curiosity. Curiosity landed on Mars early Monday (August 6th) morning and has already sent back many black and white images. Grunsfeld explained how this rover differs from earlier ones–its chemistry laboratory is much more sophisticated–and talked about its primary mission: finding evidence of historical life on Mars by studying and doing tests on the dirt it recovers.
Grunsfeld’s background is linked to Julius Rosenwald in a couple of ways. His grandfather, Ernest Grunsfeld Jr., was Rosenwald’s nephew and designed the Adler Planetarium and the Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments, an innovative apartment complex that housed many famous Chicagoans, including Quincy Jones and Joe Louis.
Also, growing up in Hyde Park, Chicago, Grunsfeld has said he became interested in science early in life through visits to the nearby Museum of Science and Industry, another Rosenwald-funded project that was initially known as the Rosenwald Industrial Museum. Rosenwald was inspired to create the Museum of Science and Industry after seeing similar museums in Vienna and Munich, and his hope was that the exhibits detailing industrial technology would motivate new scientific innovation by museum goers.
You can watch the segment from “The Colbert Report” on Hulu.
By Michael Rose
by Cieslafdn | Aug 6, 2012 | Rosenwald Fund
Rashida Jones, who’s become a familiar face in NBC’s critically-lauded sitcoms (like “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation”) and modern romantic comedies (like I Love You, Man and Our Idiot Brother) is currently promoting her newest film, Celeste and Jesse Forever. Jones stars in the film with Andy Samberg and it’s also her first screenwriting credit. Jones explains in a Washington Post interview that the film draws from moments in her personal life with close friend and co-writer Will McCormack.
Rashida Jones’s family has an interesting connection to Julius Rosenwald. Her father is the great musician and producer Quincy Jones, who was born in the Rosenwald-funded Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments in Chicago in 1933. Barbara Bowman (whose father helped design the apartment complex) recalled in an interview with us last year that Quincy Jones’ mother was a secretary to the building manager and his father was the carpenter in the building.
You can read more about Celeste and Jesse Forever at the Washington Post.
By Michael Rose
by Cieslafdn | Jul 16, 2012 | Rosenwald Fund
In an op-ed for the JTA, Peter Dreier argues that Jews have historically been at the forefront of progressive social change. Among his examples, he includes Julius Rosenwald:
Jewish social activism helped spearhead the early civil rights movement as well. In 1909, Joel Spingarn was a founder and then long-term president of the NAACP. Julius Rosenwald of Sears & Roebuck was a pioneer in the new field of progressive philanthropy. He endowed Jane Addams’ Hull House and Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute, funded more than 5,000 schools for African Americans in the rural South, and supported the Highlander Folk School, a Tennessee-based training center for labor and civil rights activists.
Click here to read the full article…
by datdudejbal | May 25, 2012 | Rosenwald Fund
Documentary filmmaker Aviva Kempner will discuss her work making films about American Jews in a public conversation with University of Pennsylvania Professor Beth Wenger. Kempner will reflect on her choices of subjects and the ways that she uses historical sources in her films. She will also preview her current film-in-progress on the Rosenwald Schools. This film explores the life and work of Julius Rosenwald, the son of German-Jewish immigrants who became president and chairman of Sears, Roebuck & Co, focusing particularly on his effort to create more than 5,000 schools for poor, rural African-American children in the South.
Aviva Kempner’s films include The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg and Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg. Her films investigate non-stereotypical images of Jews in history, focusing on lesser-known stories of Jewish heroes. She founded the Washington Jewish Film Festival in 1989 and writes film criticism and feature articles for numerous publications, including The Boston Globe, The Forward, Washington Jewish Week and The Washington Post.
Admission: $15 general; $10 AJHS, CJH members, seniors, students
Click here to purchase tickets.
by datdudejbal | May 22, 2012 | Rosenwald Fund
Last Wednesday, May 16th, Aviva Kempner spoke at a luncheon for the Brandeis National Committee at the Lakewood Country Club in Rockville, MD. Ms. Kempner showed the work in progress version of The Rosenwald Schools and addressed the audience about making films about Jewish heroes.
Photo credit: Leah Jaffee
To book this film, contact Blair (blairs@brandeis.edu) at the National Center for Jewish Film. To contact Aviva Kempner about speaking engagements, please email cieslafdn@gmail.com. Stay tuned to this blog for updates on future screenings.
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