Free screening of "Rosenwald" to mark MLK National Holiday

Thursday, January 14 at 7pm / Doors open at 6:30pm  Free and open to the public.

Discussion follows (led by Pamela Rothstein, Director of Lifelong Learning)

Rosenwald is the incredible story of Julius Rosenwald, the son of an immigrant peddler who never finished high school, who rose to become the President of Sears. Influenced by the writings of the educator Booker T. Washington, this Jewish philanthropist joined forces with African American communities during the Jim Crow South to build 5,300 schools, providing 660,000 black children with access to education in the segregated American South.

Inspired by the Jewish ideals of tzedakah(charity) and tikkun olam (repairing the world) and a deep concern over racial inequality in America, Julius Rosenwald used his wealth to become one of America’s most effective philanthropists. This important new documentary from award-winning filmmaker Aviva Kempner (The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg, Partisans of Vilna) reveals Rosenwald as a silent partner of the Pre-Civil Rights Movement.

Recipients of Julius Rosenwald’s seminal Rosenwald Fund for African American artists and intellectuals include Marian Anderson, James Baldwin, Julian Bond, Ralph Bunche, W.E.B. DuBois, Katherine Dunham, Ralph Ellison, John Hope Franklin, Zora Neale Hurston, Jacob Lawrence, Dr. Charles Drew, Langston Hughes, Augusta Savage, and Gordon Parks. Addressing needs brought about by the Great Migration, Rosenwald also funded the building of housing and YMCAs for African Americans.

Learn more and view the trailer at www.rosenwaldfilm.org.