February is African-American History Month and there is a fascinating story about the work of a Chattooga County man who helped to improve the education of African-American children in Chattooga County during the early part of the last century by securing money for education from the Rosenwald Fund.
The Julius Rosenwald Fund was chartered by Sears, Roebuck and Company magnate Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) in 1917 “for the well-being of mankind.” The fund concentrated on the equalization of opportunities among Americans, including the funding of schools for African Americans in the rural South.
Unlike other philanthropic organizations, the fund was not designed to last in perpetuity. During its existence, the Julius Rosenwald Fund provided over 70 million dollars in funding to a variety of college and universities, Jewish charities, and African American schools before its funds were exhausted in 1948.
One of the largest programs administered by the Rosenwald Fund was the rural school building program, which provided money for toward the construction of over 5000 schools and teachers’ homes, which became known as “Rosenwald Schools.”
According to a history by Professor Julius Thomas, Chattooga County’s African-American educators received money from the Rosenwald Fund to better the segregated schools at Holland and Finley Chapel. Reuben Nichols was instrumental in the improvement of educational facilities for the county’s African-American children and helped to form the Chattooga Training School in Holland.
You can find out more in a post by the Chattooga County Historical Society HERE and you can read more about Reuben Nichols below:
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