“Of the 423 park sites within the U.S. National Park System, which includes national parks, monuments, historical sites and other features, few are named after a Jewish person. But if Dorothy Canter of Bethesda, Md., has it her way, one will celebrate the legacy of Julius Rosenwald, the early 20th-century Jewish American philanthropist and president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, whose generosity and progressive vision influenced the Jewish and Black communities in the Chicago area and Black communities across the American South.
“As founder and president of the Julius Rosenwald & Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park Campaign, Canter leads a team advocating for the creation of a multi-site park: a visitor center in Chicago to focus on Rosenwald’s overall legacy, and a number of restored schoolhouses in several states, remnants from among the over 5,000 ‘Rosenwald schools’ founded in the Jim Crow era to improve educational opportunities for Black children. Prior to the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said segregated public schools were unconstitutional, these Rosenwald schools comprised about one-third of all the elementary schools in the country accessible for African Americans.
“At a time when the Chicago Jewish community was split between established German-Jewish elites and Jewish immigrants from Russia and Poland, Rosenwald sought to overcome these divisions and pool communal resources, establishing what became the predecessor of Chicago’s Jewish federation. His philanthropic efforts on behalf of Black Americans were his response to the parallel he observed between the suffering and persecution Jews and Blacks, from Eastern Europe to the Jim Crow South.
“‘From Sears to Eternity: The Julius Rosenwald Story’ also highlighted the ways Rosenwald was an innovator in how he supported causes. In 1910, for instance, he responded to a request to support a YMCA for Black people with the first-known challenge grant: he committed to giving $25,000 to any city that would raise $75,000 for the establishment of such a YMCA in their community. Over the years, 24 cities rose to the challenge, and YMCAs were established accordingly.
“When Rosenwald chose to celebrate his 50th birthday by donating a total of hundreds of thousands of dollars to various causes, he gave $25,000 to the Tuskegee Institute. It was the institute’s founder, Booker T. Washington, who proposed that Rosenwald set aside a portion of that money to build schools; and when Washington died in 1915, before their project was complete, Rosenwald established the Rosenwald Fund to keep their work going.
“In 2001, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the schools among the most endangered historic sites, leading to new interest and efforts to restore and preserve them. Then in 2015, ‘Rosenwald’ — the movie that inspired Canter — highlighted Rosenwald’s collaboration with Washington on the schools. In 2016, Canter marshalled supporters — including Robert Stanton, who served in the National Park Service for almost four decades and was the first Black person to be appointed NPS director — and began her campaign.
“Over 200 organizations — national parks and preservation organizations, educational groups and museums, historical societies, churches and synagogues, Black organizations and Jewish organizations — have submitted letters of support for the creation of the park. It’s been almost 10 years since Canter started on this journey, but she remains committed. And in the meantime, the campaign is working to create an informal network of still-extant Rosenwald schools to focus on exhibitions and restoration as well as advocacy for the establishment of the national park.” (Kohn, JewishInsider, 5/28/25)
Read the full story at JewishInsider
- “The most famous Jewish philanthropist you may have never heard of and the campaign to amplify his legacy with a national park; Julius Rosenwald was a revolutionary philanthropist, yet his name is not well known, in part because his foundation shut down soon after his death, Rachel Kohn, JewishInsider, 5/28/25
- Learn more at the Julius Rosenwald & Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park Campaign website
- Rosenwald, A film by Aviva Kempner