The Bullock Texas State History Museum has inaugurated an exhibition focused on the Rosenwald schools, which played a significant role in educating the Civil Rights generation. The exhibition is titled "A Better Life for Their Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, and the 4,978 Schools that Changed America."
According to an October 22 press release from the museum, the exhibition opened on October 19 and features photographs by Andrew Feiler along with artifacts from the Rosenwald schools. These schools were operational from 1912 to 1937. The release states that the schools aimed to address the racial education gap in the segregated South. Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck & Company, and Booker T. Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, collaborated with Black communities to establish nearly 5,000 schools across 15 southern and border states.
The program provided Texas with funding to construct approximately 466 schools as well as teachers' quarters and industrial shops across 82 counties. Bullock Museum Director Margaret Koch said in the release that "the exhibit gives life to a little-known but inspirational story." Koch added that about 500 Rosenwald schools have survived, with some campuses still active.
The exhibit will be open for public viewing until February 23, 2025, and is presented in both English and Spanish.