Rosenwald Fund

The Rosenwald Fund (also known as the Rosenwald Foundation, the Julius Rosenwald Fund, and the Julius Rosenwald Foundation) was established in 1917 by Julius Rosenwald and his family for "the well-being of mankind." Rosenwald became part-owner of Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1895, serving as its president from 1908 to 1922, and chairman of its board of directors until his death in 1932.

History

Unlike other endowed foundations, which were designed to fund themselves in perpetuity, the Rosenwald Fund was designed to expend all of its funds for philanthropic purposes before a predetermined "sunset date." It donated over $70 million to public schools, colleges and universities, museums, Jewish charities, and African American institutions before funds were completely depleted in 1948.

The rural school building program for African-American children was one of the largest programs administered by the Rosenwald Fund. Over $4.4 million in matching funds stimulated construction of more than 5,000 one-room schools (and larger ones), as well as shops and teachers' homes, mostly in the South, where public schools were segregated and black schools had been chronically underfunded. This was particularly so after disenfranchisement of most blacks from the political system in southern states at the turn of the 20th century. The Fund required white school boards to agree to operate such schools and to arrange for matching funds, in addition to requiring black communities to raise funds or donate property and labor to construct the schools. These schools, constructed to models designed by architects of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now known as Tuskegee University), became known as "Rosenwald Schools." In some communities, surviving structures have been preserved and recognized as landmarks for their historical character and social significance. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has classified them as National Treasures.

The Rosenwald Fund also made fellowship grants directly to African-American artists, writers, researchers and intellectuals between 1928 and 1948. Civil rights leader Julian Bond, whose father received a Rosenwald fellowship, has called the list of grantees a "Who's Who of black America in the 1930s and 1940s."^[1] Hundreds of grants were disbursed to artists, writers and other cultural figures, many of whom became prominent or already were, including photographers Gordon Parks, Elizabeth Catlett, Marion Palfi,^[2] poets Claude McKay, Dr. Charles Drew, Augusta Savage, anthropologist and dancer Katherine Dunham, singer Marian Anderson, silversmith Winifred Mason,^[3] writers Ralph Ellison, W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark, dermatologist Theodore K. Lawless,^[4] and poets Langston Hughes and Rita Dove.^[5]^[6] Fellowships of around $1,000 to $2,000 were given out yearly to applicants and were usually designed to be open-ended; the Foundation requested but did not require grantees to report back on what they accomplished with the support.

In 1929, the Rosenwald Fund funded a syphilis treatment pilot program in five Southern states. The Rosenwald project emphasized locating people with syphilis and treating them, during a time when syphilis was widespread in poor African-American communities.^[7] The Fund ended its involvement in 1932, due to lack of matching state funds (the Fund required jurisdictions to contribute to efforts to increase collaboration on solving problems). After the Fund ceased its involvement, the federal government decided to take over the funding and changed its mission to being a non-therapeutic study. The infamous Tuskegee syphilis study began later that year, tracking the progress of untreated disease, and took advantage of poor participants by not informing them fully of its constraints. Even after penicillin became recognized as approved treatment for this disease, researchers did not treat the study participants.^[7]

Notable fellowship recipients

This is a selected list of notable Rosenwald Fund Fellowship recipients from the years the fund's fellowship program was active, 1928-1948.^[5]

1928

James Weldon Johnson, writer and activist; returning fellow 1930-1931

1929

Frances Davis, nurse and activist
Abram Lincoln Harris, economist; returning fellow 1939, 1945
Willis J. King, Methodist bishop, college president, and sociologist
Flemmie Pansy Kittrell, nutritionist
Ruby Stutts Lyells, librarian
Augusta Savage, sculptor; 1929-1931 fellowship
Julian Steele, social worker, politician, and activist; 1929-1930 fellowship
Clarence Cameron White, composer and violinist; 1929-1931 fellowship

1930

Franz Alexander, psychoanalyst; 1930-1932 fellowship
Marian Anderson, opera singer
Richmond Barthé, sculptor
William E. Blatz, developmental psychologist
William Stanley Braithwaite, writer
Paul Cornely, physician, public health pioneer, and activist
Ethel McGhee Davis social worker and university dean
Mollie E. Dunlap, librarian and bibliographer; 1930-1931 fellowship
Ruby Elzy, opera singer; 1930-1931 fellowship
Simon Haley, agricultural scientist
Charles S. Johnson, sociologist and university president
Dorothy B. Porter, librarian, bibliographer, and curator; 1930-1931 fellowship, returning fellow 1944
Carleton Washburne, education reformer
Monroe Work, sociologist and archivist

1931

Horace Mann Bond, historian, social scientist, and college administrator; 1931-1932 fellowship
Ralph Bunche, political scientist and diplomat
Alan Busby, agricultural scientist
Mercer Cook, diplomat, writer and translator; returning fellow 1937
Mabel Byrd, economist and civil rights activist
John Dollard, psychologist and social scientist
Charles R. Drew, surgeon and medical researcher
Louis Israel Dublin, statistician
W.E.B. Du Bois, sociologist, historian, writer, civil rights activist; returning fellow 1933-1934
Ruth Anna Fisher, historian and archivist
Roscoe Conkling Giles, surgeon and physician
Langston Hughes, poet, activist, novelist and playwright, returning fellow 1941
Henry A. Hunt, education reformer
Raphael Lanier, diplomat
Camille Nickerson, pianist, composer, and musicologist
William Edouard Scott, painter
John W. Work III, composer and musicologist; 1931-1932 fellowship

1932

Wallace A. Battle, education reformer and university founder
Ambrose Caliver, education reformer
Allison Davis, anthropologist; returning fellow 1939-1940
Ellsworth Faris, sociologist

1933

Margaret Bonds, composer and pianist
John P. Davis, journalist, lawyer and activist

1934

Lorenzo Greene, historian; returning fellow 1940
Percy Lavon Julian, research chemist and pharmaceutical innovator; 1934-1935 fellowship
Kelly Miller, mathematician, sociologist and writer

1935

St. Clair Drake, sociologist and anthropologist; 1935-1937 fellowship, returning fellow 1946
Katherine Dunham, dancer and choreographer; 1935-1936 fellowship
Zora Neale Hurston, writer, anthropologist and filmmaker
Claude McKay, writer and poet; returning fellow 1943

1936

Josephine Wilkins, civil rights activist

1937

Lewis White Beck, philosopher
Benjamin A. Botkin, folklorist and writer
Harmon White Caldwell, lawyer and university president
John Tyler Caldwell, political scientist and university president; 1937-1938 fellowship
Horace R. Cayton, Jr., sociologist and writer
William Schieffelin Claytor, mathematician; 1937-1938 fellowship
Frank Marshall Davis, writer and labor activist
Aaron Douglas, painter
John Hope Franklin, historian; 1937-1938 fellowship
Margaret Jarman Hagood, sociologist and demographer
Clinton Everett Knox, diplomat; 1937-1938 fellowship
James Raymond Lawson, physicist and university president; 1937-1938 fellowship
Ralph E. McGill, journalist and newspaper publisher
Benjamin Arthur Quarles, historian; returning fellow 1945
Bonita H. Valien, sociologist and writer; returning fellow 1939
Preston Valien, sociologist and writer; returning fellow 1939

1938

Arna W. Bontemps, poet, writer, and librarian; returning fellow 1942
John Aubrey Davis, Sr., political scientist and civil rights activist; 1938-1940 fellowship
Shirley Graham Du Bois, writer, composer, and activist; 1938-1939 fellowship
Rufus Carrollton Harris, lawyer and university president
George Duke Humphrey educator and university president
Lewis Wade Jones, sociologist
Fred B. Kniffen, geographer and anthropologist
Ruth Smith Lloyd, anatomist; 1938-1939 fellowship
James LuValle, chemist and Olympic athlete; 1938-1939 fellowship
Ira De Augustine Reid, sociologist
Charles Shannon, artist
Frank M. Snowden, Jr., historian, classicist, and diplomat
Howard Swanson, composer; 1938-1939 fellowship
Joseph T. Taylor, sociologist and university dean

1939

May Justus, writer, educator, and civil rights activist
John Whitefield Kendrick, economist
Lawrence D. Reddick, historian; returning fellow 1945
Lillian Smith, writer; 1939-1940 fellowship
Hugh H. Smythe, sociologist, writer, and diplomat; 1939-1940 fellowship
William Grant Still, composer; 1939-1940 fellowship
Melvin E. Thompson, politician and governor of Georgia
Lorenzo Dow Turner, sociolinguist; returning fellow 1940 and 1945

1940

Charles Alston, artist; 1940-1941 fellowship
William Attaway, writer
Paul P. Boswell, physician and politician
Selma Burke, sculptor
Robert L. Carter, lawyer, civil rights activist, and US District Court judge
Kenneth B. Clark, social psychologist
Mamie P. Clark, social psychologist; 1940-1942 fellowship
Marion Vera Cuthbert, writer and college dean
Charles Twitchell Davis, literary critic; 1940-1941 fellowship
Edwin Adams Davis, historian
James A Ford, archaeologist
Henry Aaron Hill, chemist; 1940-1941 fellowship
Jacob Lawrence, painter; 1940-1942 fellowship
Ulysses Lee, academic^[8]
William J. Trent, Jr. economist and civil rights activist
James A. Washington, Jr., civil rights lawyer, university dean, and D.C. Superior Court Judge
Mark Hanna Watkins, linguist and anthropologist
Eric Williams, historian and first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago; returning fellow in 1942
C. Vann Woodward, historian

1941

Cleo W. Blackburn, social scientist and college president
David Blackwell, mathematician
Herman Branson, physicist, chemist, and college president
William Montague Cobb, physician and anthropologist
Helen Octavia Dickens, physician and writer
John Henry Faulk, storyteller and radio host; 1941-1942 fellowship
Cornelius Golightly, teacher, civil rights activist, and education administrator
Adelaide M. Cromwell, sociologist, historian, and preservationist; returning fellow 1944
Thomas C. Lea III, artist, writer, and historian
Mabel Murphy Smythe-Haith, economist, civil rights activist, and diplomat
Samuel Z. Westerfield, Jr., economist and diplomat
Bell Wiley, historian
Gordon Randolph Willey, archaeologist and anthropologist
Margaret Just Butcher, literary scholar, writer, and civil rights activist; 1941-1942 fellowship

1942

Thomas Bell, writer
Sterling Allen Brown, folklorist, poet, and literary critic
Joseph Delaney, artist
Owen Dodson, poet, novelist, and playwright
Wade Ellis, mathematician
William Fontaine, philosopher
Margaret Morgan Lawrence, psychiatrist and writer
Arthur S. Link, historian; returning fellow 1944
Herman H. Long, social scientist and college president
Jesse W. Markham, economist
Gordon Parks, photographer, musician, writer, and film director
Clarence F. Stephens, mathematician
Charles Henry Thompson, psychologist, writer, and civil rights legal theorist
Charles Henry Townes, physicist
Charles White, artist; 1942-1943 fellowship
J. Ernest Wilkins Jr., nuclear scientist, mechanical engineer and mathematician

1943

Julien Binford, painter
Mildred Blount, fashion designer
Marcus Bruce Christian, poet, writer, and folklorist
Woody Guthrie, singer-songwriter
Roi Ottley, journalist
Thomas Sancton, novelist and journalist; returning fellow 1945, 1947
Hudson Strode, writer
Julius H. Taylor, physicist
Hale Woodruff, artist; 1943-1944 fellowship

1944

Margaret Bush Wilson, lawyer and activist
Esther Cooper Jackson, civil rights activist and social worker
E. Franklin Frazier, sociologist and writer
Robert Gwathmey, artist
Chester Himes, writer
Rayford Logan, historian
Pauli Murray, lawyer, activist, writer and Episcopal priest
Margaret Walker, poet and writer

1945

Conrad Albrizio, painter; 1945-1946 fellowship
Janet Collins, dancer and choreographer
Woody Crumbo, artist, musician and dancer
Dean Dixon, conductor; 1945-1946 fellowship
Ralph Ellison, novelist and literary critic
Elizabeth Hardwick, novelist and literary critic
Winifred Mason, jeweler
Charles Sebree, painter and playwright
Kenneth Spencer, opera singer and actor
Alma Stone Williams, pianist and music teacher

1946

Evelyn Boyd, mathematician
Nat Caldwell, journalist
Elizabeth Catlett, artist; 1946-1947 fellowship
Clifton O. Dummett, dentist and dental historian
Mark Fax, composer and musicologist
Natalie Leota Hinderas, pianist, composer and musicologist; returning fellow 1948
John Tate Lanning, historian
Walter McAfee, astronomer
Willard Motley, writer
Dave Masato Okada, sociologist
Marion Palfi, photographer
Rose Piper, painter and textile designer

1947

William Artis, sculptor
Byron Burford, painter
Edward Burrows, historian and civil rights activist
Martin Dibner, writer
Grace Towns Hamilton, politician and social justice advocate
Robert E. Hayden, writer and U.S. Poet Laureate
Blyden Jackson, writer and literary critic
Ulysses Kay, composer; 1947-1948 fellowship
Thomas Hal Phillips, novelist, actor and screenwriter
John Rhoden, sculptor
George C. Stoney, documentary filmmaker
Alonzo Smythe Yerby, physician and public health official

1948

James Baldwin, novelist, playwright, poet and activist
Roscoe C. Brown, Jr., Tuskegee Airman, television and radio host, and college president
William James Cousins, sociologist
L'Tanya Griffin, fashion designer
Elizabeth L. Sturz, poet and social worker
Samuel L. Myers, economist and university president
Marion Perkins, sculptor
Liston Pope, pastor, theologian, and university dean
Pearl Primus, dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist
Oscar W. Ritchie, sociologist
Haywood Rivers, artist and gallerist
Samuel Reid Spencer, Jr., college president