Rosenwald School was an all-black school that operated in Marion from 1927 until 1965. The school was one of 155 Rosenwald schools in Kentucky financed by Julius Rosenwald, the late president of Sears, Roebuck and Co. In the early 1900's Rosenwald built nearly 5,000 schools for African-American children in 15 states in the South.
In 1911, Rosenwald, who was white, befriended Booker T. Washington, the noted African American educator, and together they built school for black children in the segregated South and Southwest.
Marion's Rosenwald school closed in the year 1965, due to the Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that assured that no person in the United States will be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color or national origin, nor be excluded from participation in any program or activity which is in part, or all, supported by the federal government.
The old school building was used as a private dwelling for many years, just until recently it sits empty and terrible condition. Something that, if funds were available, should have been preserved for it's history.
Picture made March 23, 2013.
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