Celebrations will mark unveiling of Rosenwald historic marker

Published 11:48 am Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Celebrations will mark unveiling of Rosenwald historic marker

Macedonia Rosenwald School, 1955

Next month a series of special events will celebrate the unveiling of an official historical marker at the Macedonia Concord Community Center, where a Rosenwald School once served children in that community.
Panola native Cheryl Johnson has worked for months to coordinate the remembrance ceremony and related events September 9-16.
Rosenwald Schools were built by educator Booker T. Washington and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald across the South for African American children in the early twentieth century. By 1928, one-third of the South’s rural black school children and teachers were served by Rosenwald Schools, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History, University of Mississippi School of Education, William Winter Institute, J.D. Williams Library Special Collections, First Regional Library, The Panolian, Panola County NAACP, and University of North Carolina Asheville Center for Diversity Education, are partnering with Cheryl Johnson, project director, and alumni of Macedonia Rosenwald School, to plan this series of four special commemorative events.
A screening of two films: “Rosenwald” and “40 Years Later: Now Can We Talk?” will be held Saturday, September 9 at Batesville Junior High School at 5 p.m..
On Thursday, September 14, there will be a gala and reception at 6 p.m. to celebrate the opening of the Rosenwald Exhibit at the Batesville Public Library. The exhibit will feature historical photographs of the school, teachers and students, as well as other archival material including oral and transcribed memories of alumni.
The unveiling of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History marker at the site of the old Rosenwald School, now the Macedonia-Concord Community Center on Curtis Road, will take place at 5 p.m. Friday, September 15.
On Saturday, September 16, participants in the Rosenwald celebration are invited to attend a Symposium: 63 Years after Brown: What is the State of Education for African American Children in Mississippi? at the University of Mississippi Inn, 1101 Frontage Rd;, Oxford, 9 a.m. to noon.
To donate to this effort or for more information, contact Cheryl Johnson at 828-299-8000, address: 105 Sondley Parkway, Asheville, NC. 28805.

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