Aviva Kempner's "Rosenwald" is brilliant in its simplicity, rich in the issues it raises. Kempner's narrative rise of Julius Rosenwald touches on racism, the legacy of slavery, wealth disparity, social responsibility, education, poverty, and economic mobility. She seems to leave only one stone unturned . . . but it is an important one.
Julius Rosenwald was a man of conscience who saw a problem which effected the lives of countless oppressed African Americans and took action. Rosenwald (1862 - 1932), JR to his friends and colleagues, was the son of immigrant refugees. He became a peddler, a clothier and founded America's largest clothing and variety store Sears Roebuck Company.
Even as he became President of Sears Roebuck and one of the nation's richest men, Rosenwald did not forget his humble origins. Both his family and his wife's had fled the instability and persecution of Jews in Central Europe. Because of this, Rosenwald felt that Jews had a special role in fighting religious and racial oppression. Two friends helped push JR along this road: Paul Sachs, senior partner in the investment house Goldman Sachs, and influential Jewish Reform Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch.
Sachs introduced Rosenwald to African American educator and President of Tuskeegee Institute Booker T. Washington. Rosenwald was so impressed with Washington's work that he requested to be put on Tuskeegee's Board of Directors. Rosenwald who himself never finished high school, served on that board for twenty years from 1912 until his death.
Hirsch, the rabbi of Chicago Sinai, the city's leading Jewish Reform congregation, was a strong proponent of education's value in social change. Rosenwald became long term Vice President of Chicago Sinai and supported various of their social and educational projects.
Persuaded by Booker T. Washington, Rosenwald in 1913 and 1914 underwrote the construction of 6 small rural Alabama schools. Their success inspired the establishment of the Rosenwald Fund in 1917 and the construction of over 5300 subsequent schools for the under served Black population, primarily in the South. The foundation also underwrote the construction of housing and sponsored inviduals in Chicago as well as the South.
The schools were not without struggle and controversy. They were subject to attack and arson by white supremacist right wing terrorists. Students and teachers were harassed. Still, in the face of violent opposition, schools were rebuilt and pupils persisted.
Here Kempner lets her stellar treatment of Rosenwald overshadow an important controversy around the schools. Progressives in Black communities strongly criticized Booker T. Washington's plan of separate but equal education as a strategy for advancement. The great activist educator WEB DuBois scorned this acceptance of second class status. He called Washington the Great Accommodator for his refusal to challenge Jim Crow laws, political disenfranchisement and the limited professional opportunities for African Americans. DuBois was outraged that as Blacks were being lynched, Washington spoke of compromise. DuBois called for higher education, while Washington generally limited the scope of educational aspiration. While Washington cultivated support from rich white philanthropists, DuBois formed the NAACP and fomented the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Modern Civil Rights activists were still appreciative of the support of Rosenwald pointing out that the schools afforded opportunities that would not have otherwise existed. Kempner wisely leans heavily on narration of Representative John Lewis (D-Ga) former chair of SNCC who was badly beaten in civil rights marches from South Carolina to Alabama and her friend NAACP Chair Julian Bond who died shortly before the film went into general release and to whom the film is dedicated. Also a slew of family members, celebrities and common folk give texture and depth through insight and reminiscence.
Even as she travels in the footsteps of Julius Rosenwald, Aviva Kempner has given us a large index of the influence and broad reach of social consciousness and personal generosity. She has created a clear picture of how good works may effect people's lives. But we are also made aware that such examples of courage and compassion are no substitute for just national policies. It seems that as a nation, we could all use a bit of Rosenwald education!
(Disclosure: Included in the list of Rosenwald proponents is writer Maya Angelou, a personal friend of this reviewer's family and for whom my mother worked for many years.)