Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park Act

Key Points

• This bill would create a new unit of the National Park System called the Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park. It honors Julius Rosenwald, a son of German-Jewish immigrants who led Sears and used his wealth to partner with Booker T. Washington and about 5,000 Black communities in the segregated South to build schools for children with few or no educational opportunities.
• The park would include a headquarters and visitor center in Chicago near the former Sears complex in North Lawndale, plus three preserved Rosenwald School buildings in Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia. These schools educated more than 600,000 Black children between 1912 and 1932, including civil rights leaders like John Lewis and Maya Angelou.
• The bill also establishes a Rosenwald Schools National Network within the National Park Service, connecting remaining school sites across multiple states. The network would produce educational materials, conduct research, and provide grants to member sites to help preserve and share the history of these schools.
• The National Park Service would be able to enter cooperative agreements with state and local governments, as well as private groups, to support educational programs and historic preservation at sites connected to the park. The Secretary of the Interior must complete a management plan within 3 fiscal years of receiving funding.

Votes

No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.