
Julius Rosenwald was one of the most influential philanthropists of the early 20th century. He played an intregal role in providing an education for rural blacks in the South. The Rosenwald Fund provided monetary assistance to over 5,000 black schools. 

Julius Rosenwald- the philanthropist 

In the wake of the Civil War, members of McClintock Presbyterian Church had a vision for their community and congregation that was centered on education. In the 1880s, and with few options for Black children, church members started a school to educate the youth whose families attended their church. The Old McClintock School had classes based on essential skills and preparing young people for work as farmers and laborers. Students were needed at home to help with the harvest, so the school schedule was based largely around the rythum of agriculture. Charles Lucas, who started at McClintock in 1925, stated that during cotton-picking time (last of Aug into Sept) they only went to school when it was raining. If the rain stopped during the day, school was dismissed [1].The school population increased so much that the Knights of the Guiding Star of the East allowed the school to use their two-story building as overflow until contractors built the new Rosenwald school. The Old McClintock School was torn down in 1916, and a Rosenwald School was built in the 1920s. Most grades were doubled up in each classroom. This means the teachers had to be innovative to reach all of the students. George Reid explains how the teachers did it: “The teacher would have a few pupils in the second grade and a few in the third grade. While she’d be teaching the second grade, the third grade would be studying.” Students were required to learn by any means necessary; misbehavior was not tolerated. Mr. Reid explains some of the consequences for misbehavior; if you "told on somebody," you got a "whuppin" with the hickory switch. For talking in class, you went to the corner and stood on one foot for two hours. Shelby Foust, another alumnus of McClintock, recollected about a special kind of hickory stick used by the teachers. “Down behind the church there grew some kind of red hickory that didn’t break. They kept them by the dozens.” [2] The community also helped hold students accountable.Because McClintock, like many other Rosenwald schools, was in a church community, religion was important. “The devotion started about 8:30. We sang songs, and we said the Lord’s Prayer, and the 23rd Psalm was always said. They even occasionally went into the church to sing hymns during recess. Recess was also a time for students to play games. "At recess, children played horseshoes, '' remembers Linwood Foust: "They weren't the horseshoes you see now. They were true horse's shoes, the little ones... . We did sack races, ring-around-a-rosy, the kind of game that did not require any equipment. There was no equipment, so we created our own games.” [2] Even though times were hard and resources were scarce, students still made the best of their time at McClintock. In 1952 the facility was merged into Pineville School.Though the community buildings that once surrounded the school are gone, the church members still keep the building's legacy alive. Ever since the school closed in 1954, they have used the building in some capacity. It currently serves as a fellowship hall. The school is designated a local historic landmark. In 2019, the Charlotte Museum of History offered a tour of McClintock as a way to increase awareness about Rosenwald schools in Mecklenburg County.

This historic schoolhouse is considered one of the best-preserved wooden Rosenwald Schools in Mecklenburg County. The four-room school was one of the larger Black schools in the country and provided a home for a school that was first established in 1865 by the formerly-enslaved members of McClintock Presbyterian Church. Due to the church's expanding membership, school and community leaders requested money from the Rosenwald Fund in the 1920s and with this matching grant and funds from African Americans in Charlotte, McClintock opened for the 1922-1923 shcool year. When open, the school served Black students from first through eighth grade. Located on two acres of land in the Steele Creek neighborhood, the school currently serves as a fellowship building for the McClintock Presbyterian Church.

McClintock Rosenwald School

This tour focuses on extant Rosenwald schools along the I-77 corridor of North Carolina. This is not an extensive tour of all the Rosenwald schools that still remain in this area, but includes a few schools of interest. 

Community members raised funds that made the construction of Billingsville possible along with a matching grant from the Rosenwald Fund. Benefactor Sam Billings played a large role in providing a school for the children of the Grier Heights community. Mr. Billings was a formerly enslaved member of the Charlotte community who acquired over 92 acres of land in the later years of his life. Billings sold two acres of his land and donated one acre, donating the proceeds and land to help with the construction of this school. A. S. Grier, the owner of Grier Funeral Home and a Monroe Road store, donated $500.00 to the project. The finished school was a four-room building that served six grades. 1st and 2nd grades had individual rooms, while the upper grades combined for a 3/4th and a 5/6th classroom. When the city limits expanded in 1948, Billingsville became a city school. Subsequently, the City School Board adopted Billingsville, and C.E. Moreland became the new principal. This transition brought significant progress to the school as funding from the school board allowed for furnaces and fluorescent lights for each classroom. Mr. Moreland requested that a new building addition and the school board obliged. The contracts were as follows: G.L Wilson, general contractor $41,000, Tompkins-Johnson plumbing company, $3,271, W.H. Hobbs Inc., heating $5,943 and Hunter Electric Company, electrical $3,254. The new addition had bathrooms, and a partition at the end of the hallway to create a principal's office. Mr. Moreland even took it upon himself to improve attendance at the school by doing home visits for the kids who were absent. These efforts propelled Billingsville towards being a model school. Teachers were working hard within the school to mold students into model citizens. In James L. Ross’ oral interview about his time at Billingsville Elementary school, he recollects on personal lessons taught by teacher:<blockquote>Don’t leave this school thinking things are going to be fair, so you got to be better. you got to work harder, or you’ve got to better because you’ve got to be twice as good. In those days they would put it this way you had to be twice as good as white people in order to survive. You’ve got to be twice as good...And so we can’t cut you any slack because if we let you out of here just ordinary then you'll never make it. [1]</blockquote>The lessons learned at Billingsville were not just about academics. The strong community presence and teacher involvement helped students gain skills to be successful outside of the classroom. Desegregation brought tension to Billingsville. This tension was due to its location, at the border of the all-white Cotswold neighborhood. Desegregation changed the demographics of the school to 70% percent white. The new middle-class and upper-class white attendees demanded new leadership. Billingsville hired Banks Street College of Education master's recipient Kathleen Crosby to ease the tensions. Her fair disciplinary ways led to Billingsville being recognized as a model for desegregation in a CBS television documentary called “Busing” in May of 1976. This publicity was a cause for great pride among attendees of the school. The restored school is still a source of pride and inspiration for the Grier Heights community. The former Rosenwald School is now Grier Heights community center. Programs, classes, and gatherings are held for residents of the community. The school is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This school was constructed in 1927 with local donations and a matching grant from the Rosenwald Fund, and quickly became a center of the predominantly-Black Grier Heights community in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The Grier Heights community was home to many landowners, skilled laborers, and some of the prominent African American families in the region. The four-room school housed students in first through sixth grade and was named in honor of Black landowner Sam Billings who provided the land where this school was built. The Rosenwald Fund, along with community fundraising, financed the building. Billingsville is one of two Mecklenburg County Rosenwald Schools listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the historic school building currently serves as a community center for Grier Heights.

Billingsville Rosenwald School 

Caldwell Rosenwald was a four-room schoolhouse built during the 1924-1925 budget year. The school held grades first through eighth, two grades in each room. Walter S. and Ida Blakely deeded the land that the school stands on to the Mecklenburg Board of Education in 1924. The total cost of construction of the school was $5,200, which was a large amount of money at the time of construction. Of that total, $1,100 was paid by the Rosenwald Fund, $3,500 by the public, and $600 by the African-Americans in the Lemley community. It was constructed using Community School Floor Plan No. 400, which you can see in Rosenwald’s school plan book. It continued to educate the African-American children of the area until 1951 when the school was closed. The Caldwell Rosenwald school is often mistaken for the Caldwell Station school, located four miles away. Caldwell Station served white students in the Huntersville area. In 1953, the building was sold by the Mecklenburg County Board of Education to Truman W. and Margie Burgess. The Burgess family began their upholstery business in the school building. In the 1960s, he added a warehouse building on the side of the former school building. During the 1960s through the 1980s, the Caldwell Rosenwald School was converted for use as a retail showroom, although the original structure was largely maintained. In a 1987 interview with family-member Ben Griffith, he stated that old students often stop by the store. <blockquote>“My teacher in school told me she used to go here. People in the area have stopped by to say they have old school books from the building. We want to fix it up as much as we can like it was, with a display on its history. [1]</blockquote>Caldwell Rosenwald is not listed on the National Register of Historic places, although it fits the criteria.

What is today the Burgess Supply carpet store in Huntersville, North Carolina, was once the Caldwell Rosenwald School. Erected in 1925, Caldwell is one of seven extant Rosenwald Schools (African American schools constructed with the support of community members and a matching grant from the Rosenwald Fund) in Mecklenburg county. Once the school was surrounded by rural farmland, but due to industrialization, the school is now in an urban part of town. Caldwell Rosenwald served African American children in the Lemley community of North Mecklenburg county. The building has gone through a few physical alterations. However, the building is still recognizable to those who study the Rosenwald School designs given its use of one of the Rosenwald Funds approved architectural designs. 

Caldwell Rosenwald School

Smithville Rosenwald is located in Cornelius, a small suburb of Charlotte. The location of this school was once a thriving, predominantly Black community called Smithfield. The community was named after James and Clifford Smith, who provided land for the school. The school served African American children from 1922- 1954. The wooden school was constructed based on Rosenwald's floor plan. No. 3, which could support 3 teachers. After integration, Smithville served as a community center, but it is currently abandoned. After becoming a historical landmark in 2006, the community is looking for new ways to use the school building.  The Mecklenburg County Board of Education purchased the school's land from James H. and Clifford E. Smith for $500. The total cost for the school was $4,000. African Americans Contributed $500; the White community contributed $2,600, and the Rosenwald fund contributed $900. Two of the first teachers are recorded as Ms. Zetta Sherill and Mrs. Geraldine McCullough. During the 1922-1923 school year, 135 students were enrolled at Smithville, with a daily attendance average of 102 students.  Two Smithville alumni described a typical day at the school. Each school day started with devotion, followed by classes, recess, lunch, and the rest of the classes. If students had to use the restroom, a two-seat privy was located behind the school for use during recess. Because Smithville was a neighborhood school, the majority of the students walked. However, some students rode the bus. The school was not in session throughout the entire year. It operated on a seasonal split session. This allowed students to help their families during planting and harvest time.  In 1954, the Board of Education of Mecklenburg County auctioned the school. Wilson Potts, Ernest Harville, Ozon Brice, Mac Brice, and James Caldwell purchased the school for approximately $2,500 and turned it into the Better Community Club. Better Community Club held fundraising events, dances, housed a barbershop, served as a health vaccination clinic, and was also a stop for the mobile library. Due to funding, the Better Community Club was unable to withstand the test of time. Because the school is almost 100 years old, it requires many repairs.  In 2006, the school was designated a historic landmark. With this designation, owners must receive approval from the town's historic preservation commission to make major alterations to the building or destroy it. It also means the owner receives a 50 percent reduction in property taxes. Smithville still needs many repairs to make the building functional again. The community is optimistic that one day it can become the beacon for the community that it was in the past.

Constructed in 1922, this former Rosenwald School served the African American community of Cornelius until 1954. The location of this school was once a thriving, predominantly Black community called Smithville. The community namesakes', James and Clifford Smith, provided land for the school which served African American children during the school's years of operation. The wooden school was constructed based on Rosenwald's floor plan No. 3, which could support three teachers. After integration, Smithville served as a community center, but it is currently abandoned. After becoming a historical landmark in 2006, the community is looking for new ways to use the school building. 

Smithville Rosenwald School

The Rosenwald fund and community fundraising financed the school building. The community was able to contribute $2,700, and the Rosenwald fund contributed $500.The community was invested in building the school and creating and maintaining a positive school culture. At the 1931 countywide commencement, Chestnut Grove was awarded the title of “Most Improved Colored School" by the Parent-Teacher Association. The Association members were invited to visit all 29 schools in the county to make their decision. They chose the school based on “an exhibit of class, industrial and health work.”[1] The students at Chestnut Grove excelled in the classroom as well. During the 1933 commencement, Chestnut Grove did a presentation focused on home improvement. Students displayed various attractive articles for the home, such as window shades, bedspreads, and table covers, all repurposed from everyday items such as feed sacks and honeysuckle vines. Home economics was a vital part of the Rosenwald curriculum. Students were encouraged to not only learn how to perform academically but to become good homemakers as well.  Educational opportunities outside the classroom were rare, especially outside the county. However, In 1951 forty-one students from Chestnut Grove were able to go to the Morehead Planetarium at Chapel Hill. The students were also given tours of UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, and North Carolina College (North Carolina Central University). Only North Carolina College at Durham was integrated at the time of their visit. The community always found ways to step in when the school required funds. In 1947 Chestnut Grove, in need of a lunchroom, held a singing convention at the school. They were able to acquire $111.79 from this event. Later that year, the P.T.A held an event featuring the East End Community Singers to raise funds for a playground. 1n 1955, the school received capital outlay funds to finance a bus garage and shop. This was the same year that the school was approved for new heating plants. Chestnut Grove continued to improve until it closed due to integration. In 1969, The Iredell County Board of Education deemed Chestnut Grove unnecessary for public school purposes and placed the property at public auction in the Statesville Landmark &amp; Record. The school would go to the highest bidder. The surrounding community was able to raise funds to buy the school. Chestnut Grove is currently a community center. The community uses donations, food sales, yard sales, and rental fees to maintain the building. However, the building is still in need of many repairs. The Chestnut Grove community is working with the United Way of Iredell County to continue raising funds.

In September of 1927, the Iredell County Board of Education members met to review bids for a new "Colored" school in the Cool Springs township. The Iredell County Board of Education awarded J.O. Gaither the contract for the building at $2650. The school was called Chestnut Grove and served Black students in Iredell County from 1st to 8th grade from the years 1927-1966. The building was a three-room school building with a wooden frame thanks to local donations and a matching grant from the Rosenwald Fund. Chestnut Grove was one of the first African American schools in Iredell County to receive accreditation from the North Carolina Department of Instruction. The honor of accreditation was only for schools with an adequate building, plentiful instructional supplies, and equipment.

Chestnut Grove Rosenwald School

While the funds provided by Julius Rosenwald were critical, without the work of local benefactors, this school and hundreds of others would have never been constructed. On February 28, 1933, Piney Grove paid tribute to three special benefactors that contributed to their school's growth: Dr. F.B. Gaither, Mary Charlton Holliday, and Uncle Bynum Patterson. Dr. Gaither was a member of the Iredell County School Board. He worked to acquire education for Blacks within the county. Mary Charlton Holliday was the first supervisor of negro schools (Jeanes Supervisor) in Iredell County. Under the leadership of Mrs. Holliday, schools gained better facilities and better educational tools. Uncle Bynum Patterson, a former Georgia railroad worker, was the president of the Parent-Teacher Association. They were honored with portraits that adorned Piney Grove’s walls. Educating the whole child was important at Piney Grove. Along with traditional subjects such as Arithmetic, Reading, and Writing, students learned citizenship. During a 1933 conference of Black teachers, a teacher from Piney Grove presented her plan to teach citizenship. The principal from Piney Grove discussed how important citizenship education was schoolwide. It was evident that the trend of focusing on the whole child continued into the 1950s. In 1951, Piney Grove held a program on children’s spiritual growth in the home, church, and school. The foundational skills learned at Piney Grove were not forgotten, even after the school closed in 1952.  After closing, Piney Grove was listed as one of four abandoned school houses listed for sale in 1953. The total cost for the school was $550. Ira Johnson purchased the school for $950. As of 2017, the property is listed on the North Carolina National Register of Historic Places study list.

Operated from 1923 to 1952, the Piney Grove Rosenwald School was created through donations from African American families and matching funds from the Rosenwald Fund. In 1952, the county consolidated Piney Grove into Houstonville school in Eagle Mills township. Piney Grove was a wooden structure with three classrooms located on two acres of land. Like most Rosenwald schools, the school was located in a rural area. Mr. Leroy Steele, an attendee of Piney Grove, stated that the school's road was so bad that the mailman couldn’t deliver mail to the school when it rained. Regardless of the weather, however, he indicated that children in 1st through 8th grade attended school despite the conditions. 
 

Piney Grove Rosenwald School

Mr. S.L. Smith, general field agent of the Rosenwald school fund, visited Scotts Rosenwald in 1927. The purpose of his visit was to determine the amount of money Scotts will receive from the Rosenwald fund. Mr. W.F Credle, director of the North Carolina Rosenwald fund, and Celeste Henkel, the Iredell county supervisor, traveled with him to the school. The amount of money Rosenwald schools could receive varies according to size. A one-teacher school would receive around $400, while larger schools could get up to $2,100. Mr. Smith decided to give Scotts Rosenwald $900. The first principal at Scotts Rosenwald was Miss Maggie Woods. She became the principal in the 1920s. Under her leadership, the teachers were Mrs. A. Moyer, Miss Lizzie White, Miss Emiline Campbell, and Mrs. Lorena Ellis. She also established the first PTA (Parent-Teacher Association). In the 1930s, Mrs. Mary A. Donnell became the principal. During her administration, Domestic Science was offered as a class, and the school purchased a school bus. The first bus driver was Tom Steele. Other principles before Mr. Rankin included M.H. Harrington, James Suggs, Leslie Hollowell, Quincy Davidson, and John Otis Smith. The last principal at Scotts Rosenwald was Charles W. Rankin. Charles attended Scotts Rosenwald as a student and moved up the ranks, becoming a teacher and then the principal. During his 25 year term as a principal, he also taught seventh and eighth grade. His wife, Mildred, taught at Scotts Rosenwald for 15 years.  Principal C.W. Rankin was also the coach for the boy’s and girl’s basketball teams. The 1953 Scotts Rosenwald girl’s and boy’s basketball team won the Iredell County Elementary tournament championship. Coach C.W. Rankin was proud of his teams for their successful games. Extracurricular activities such as sports and clubs were offered at all Rosenwald schools. One of the clubs offered at Scott's was the 4-H club. During the 1968 district 4-H contest held in Salisbury, students from Scotts brought home two first-place prizes. Mary Moten and Elizabeth Cowen took first place in horticulture with an exhibition of handling and grading sweet potatoes. Johnny Brown and Robert Knox received the first place prize in field crops with an exhibition of efficient cotton production. When Scotts Rosenwald closed, the 110 enrolled students were given a free choice of what school they wanted to attend the next school year. Most of the students decided to attend Central, Scotts (same name but not a Rosenwald school), or Monticello. The Iredell County board of education placed an ad in the paper auctioning of Scotts Rosenwald on March 13th, 1968. The opening bid was $11,390. The community purchased the school, and the remaining portion of the building (the cafeteria) is a community center. Iredell County Parks and Recreation was awarded a $183,650 grant from the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund to build Rosenwald Park. The park opened in 2014.

Formerly known as "Scotts School for Blacks," this historic school originally opened in 1866. Rev. S.C. Logan and Rev. Sidney Murkland of Logan Presbyterian Church organized the school. W.C. York constructed the three-room wooden frame schoolhouse formerly known as Scotts School in 1926. Scotts was one of the last Rosenwald schools to close in Iredell County and closed in 1968. Currently, the building serves as a community center, hosting events for those that live in and around the Scotts community. 

Scotts Rosenwald

Lincoln Heights is a testament to Wilkes County residents' determination to provide a quality education for the Black community. The six-room schoolhouse was made possible by Rosenwald funds, the school board, and efforts by community members. Funds were secured by any means necessary. “To provide their portion of the cost, the community sold bricks, fruits, vegetables, chickens, quilts, and other goods, held fish fry and bake sale fundraisers, and even raffled off a Model-T Ford." [1] Their hard work was not in vain because they could secure $18,000, which paid for the school in full. By 1926, Lincoln Heights added four more classrooms to accommodate more students. Lincoln Heights continued to renovate until the 1960s. New additions included a cafeteria, indoor bathrooms, a vocational agricultural shop, a library, and at least six more classrooms before they closed due to integration.   An interview with Lincoln Heights teacher Elizabeth Grinton describes a typical day at Lincoln Heights:<blockquote>“Each school day began around 8:30 with devotion and the Pledge of Allegiance. Classes began at 9:00 and included English, mathematics, history, French, science, and home economics. The students had scheduled bathroom breaks, which were overseen by student monitors. Lunch was at 11:00, and students said a prayer before eating. With no cafeteria initially, students brought their lunches and ate in the classrooms. Alumni recall that sometimes they were embarrassed to have anyone see what they brought since most had only a biscuit or small piece of meat, but as they got older they started to combine and share lunches. Some students did work-study in the library or cafeteria to pay for school lunches, earning $30 every two weeks. School activities included movies once or twice a month, homecoming parades, talent shows, candy fundraisers, trips to the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh, operettas for the community, and May Day celebrations. Students could also join Glee Club, Future Farmers of America, Drama Club, or the Home Economics Club, or participate in football, basketball, baseball, or track.” [1]</blockquote> Lincoln Heights closed in 1968 after the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling. East Wilkes High School became the new home for many Lincoln Heights attendees. After closing, the school's infrastructure was used in a way to help the community. The original school building has been used as a daycare center and the additional building as a vocational center. Not all members of the Wilkesboro community saw the value in keeping Lincoln Heights. In the 1980s, to build a larger parking lot for the vocational center, Lincoln Heights was scheduled for demolition. With the community’s support, teacher Elizabeth Grinton stood between the school and the bulldozer and made a call for the school to be preserved. She was successful. The greater community saw the impact the school had on the African American community. Lincoln Heights was deeded to the Lincoln Height Recreation center. The building is now used as a community center. In 2018, after years of preservation efforts, the National Register of Historic Sites added Lincoln Heights as a landmark. It is currently the only historic site in Wilkes County dedicated to Black history. Lincoln Heights is currently seeking funds to restore the school to its former greatness. This is in hopes that future generations can come to the school site and learn about its history in the context of African Americans' struggle for equal opportunity.

From 1924-1968, Lincoln Heights High School served students in Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Caldwell, Surry, Wilkes, and Yadkin counties. Lincoln Heights High School is one of the few remaining Rosenwald Schools in this region of North Carolina. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, this school represented a pillar of opportunity for rural Black families. Originally called Wilkes County Training school, the school was renamed Lincoln Heights soon after its construction. The name is credited to board member Reuben H. White, who stated that he would like to see the students reach the heights of Lincoln. During most of its years of operation, this was the only high school in Northwestern North Carolina where African American pupils could receive a high school diploma. The opportunities provided by this school were transformative for many families, and many alumni became the first college graduates in their families. 

North Carolina I-77 Rosenwald School Tour