Why a National Historical Park?

Julius Rosenwald and the Rosenwald Schools are of national significance, and the best way to share their remarkable – yet surprisingly little known – story is in a National Park. The envisioned park will celebrate the contributions to our collective heritage of an immigrant family, the power of partnership building, and the value of education as an essential equalizing force in our society.

The planned Julius Rosenwald & Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park will significantly enhance the National Park System.

It will be the first national park to commemorate a Jewish American;
It will be the first national park to interpret the Rosenwald School Building Program and its profound impact on African American education in the segregated South;
It will be the first national park to highlight a partnership between African Americans and Jews in the early 20th century;
It will be the first national park to celebrate the tradition and impact of philanthropy in our nation.

We envision a multi-site park to include a visitor center in Chicago, where Rosenwald spent his adult life, and a small number of restored Rosenwald Schools in southern states, to be selected by the National Park Service. The park will interpret Rosenwald’s enormous contributions to modern business as president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, the most successful commercial enterprise of its time, as well as his visionary philanthropy. A focus will be his partnerships with Booker T. Washington and with the African American communities in the segregated South, which resulted in the construction of 4,977 schoolhouses between 1912 and 1932.

The sooner and more widely this inspiring story can be shared with the public the better.

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