You wake up in the morning, and walk to the run-down one room church house to take your few classes of the day. Because the town only has one teacher, you have to sit next to children that are only eight or nine years old as you are finishing up what would be your Freshman year of High School today. For many schoolchildren in rural Alabama during the 1800s and before, this was your daily reality. That is, if you had a teacher in your town to begin with.
Julius Rosenwald increased options for students throughout rural Alabama. (Photo from Highland Park Historical Society)Julius Rosenwald changed this harsh reality for a lot of African-Americans in the South, including Alabama throughout the early to mid 1900s. The Sears-Roebuck CEO opened 400 schools, which came to be named in his sake, all throughout the state and 5,000 schools in total throughout the Southeast. This weekend, Aviva Kempner’s documentary “Rosenwald” brings his story back to the state, to inform Alabamians of the strides he helped make to boost the quality of life of many Southern Americans.
Much like the man himself’s mission, the idea for the film began with a conversation.
“I decided to make a film on Julius Rosenwald when I heard Julian Bond speak about his family’s connection to the business and philanthropist 12 years ago at the Hebrew Center on Martha’s Vineyard,” Kempner said in her official statement. “I was immediately intrigued by Rosenwald’s story of being an enlightened businessman who wanted to repair the world.”
Kempner’s documentary centers around many important conversations that took place over several years with many that were touched by Rosenwald’s mission, including Bond himself, Ossie Davis and Maya Angelou.
The businessman’s mission to repair the world still rings true today, in the face of movements like Black Lives Matter and other measures being taken to assert the validity of African-American humanity. In her research, Kempner visited the archives at Tuskegee University, where Rosewald served on the Board of Trustees. Kempner was able to access records that document many of those that were helped by Rosenwald, but the records have changed since they were committed to paper all of those years ago.
These records are no longer names and numbers on sheets of paper, but living and breathing individuals with opportunities and stories that live forever through those that they raised with values instilled by Rosenwald and his schools.
This Friday, October 23, Rosenwald opens at the Edge Theatre in Crestwood.
