The Rosenwald Connection

The folks restoring the Woodville Rosenwald School in Gloucester, Virginia had told us repeatedly that the local paper had given their efforts great coverage. That continued Thursday, when reporter Ruby Williams of the Gazette-Journal dropped by as volunteers removed construction dust. That's Williams, interviewing Dr. Wesley C. Wilson, president of the Woodville/Rosenwald Foundation. Jere Snyder of Longleaf Productions captured the moment on video. Longleaf is at work on a documentary about Virginia's Rosenwald Schools, funded in part by Virginia Humanities and The Cook Foundation.

Join us in Charlotte on Sunday, Oct. 15, for a double-feature screening. As seen on PBS-NC, the story of North Carolina's Rosenwald Schools. Plus a short on moving Charlotte's historic Siloam School. Plus, it's free!

Register for tickets: https://tinyurl.com/2ftb9kdc

October 5 was a great day in St. George, S.C. More than a few said the St. George Rosenwald School could not ... or should not ... be preserved. But the believers kept the faith and kept on pushing forward. An amazing success!

We're thrilled to have not one but TWO films in the upcoming Pacific Northwest Multi Cultural Festival in Portland. Longleaf Productions' films on the Rosenwald Schools of North Carolina and South Carolina will be screened at the festival in Portland. Both documentaries were made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The story of North Carolina's Rosenwald Schools always gets people talking!

More than 50 people turned out Sunday evening for a screening of "Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity" at New Garden Friends Meeting in Greensboro. The audience included several alumni of North Carolina Rosenwald Schools, including two Greensboro residents – Dr. Gwendolyn O'Neal and Bill Sutton – who appear in the documentary. Director Jere Snyder (left) helped facilitate a spirited question-and-answer session after the screening.

The link is a video of the introduction prior to the Feb. 16 screening of the documentary at the North Carolina Museum of History ... and the following panel discussion.

Many thanks to the and to for making the event possible.

“Unlocking Doors of Opportunity” – North Carolina’s Rosenwald Schools Lecture A special Black History Month program at 7 p.m. Thursday at the NC Museum of History will feature a screening of the new documentary Unlocking the Doors of O...

“Unlocking Doors of Opportunity” – North Carolina’s Rosenwald Schools Lecture A special Black History Month program at 7 p.m. Thursday at the NC Museum of History will feature a screening of the new documentary Unlocking the Doors of O...

There's still time to catch "Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity" on PBS NC, over the air or (we hope) on your local North Carolina cable system.

The house was full Tuesday evening for a screening of "Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity" at the Shephard-Pruden Memorial Library in Edenton, N.C. The first Rosenwald School built in North Carolina (Warren Grove) still stands in Chowan County and is featured in the film about North Carolina's Rosenwald Schools. Librarian Jared Jacavone (pictured) introduced the film and Jere Snyder and Tom Lassiter of Longleaf Productions. The audience peppered the producers with questions following the screening – which was great!
Thanks to and for making it all possible.

Longleaf Productions' fresh documentary on North Carolina's Rosenwald Schools was screened Thursday evening at the N.C. Museum of History, followed by a panel discussion and audience Q&A. The strong turnout included a dozen or more Rosenwald School alumni. What a great evening!
Pictured during the panel discussion (from left) are Chrystal Regan, section chief for the museum's education group; Ben Stewart, a Rosenwald School alumnus from Warren County and a museum docent; Jere Snyder, director of "Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity;" Dr. Arwin Smallwood of N.C. A&T State University, who has researched Rosenwald Schools in his native northeastern North Carolina; and Tom Lassiter, writer/producer.
On Saturday, Feb. 18, the film will be screened at 1 p.m. at the student center auditorium at Elizabeth City State University.

A huge concentration of North Carolina's nearly 800 Rosenwald Schools were built in the northeastern section of the state. One still stands on the campus of Elizabeth City State University.

Longleaf Productions' new documentary on North Carolina's Rosenwald Schools will be shown at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, Ridley Student Center Auditorium, at ECSU. The screening is free and open to the public. A Q&A session follows the 30-minute film. Join us!

A Rosenwald School stands on the campus of Elizabeth City State University. The school for elementary students helped train teachers at the HBCU beginning it the 1920s. On Saturday, Feb. 18, Longleaf's new documentary on North Carolina's Rosenwald Schools will be shown at 1 p.m. in the Riley Student Center Auditorium on the ECSU campus. It's free! "Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity" explains why Rosenwald Schools were necessary in the Jim Crow South and explores how North Carolina built nearly 800 schoolhouses for rural Black students, more than any other state. Dr. Melissa Struckey of the ECSU history department, who appears in the documentary, will introduce the film. The screening will be followed by an audience Q&A with the filmmakers. The film was produced with major financial support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The screening was made possible by funding from North Carolina Humanities. #NEHgov #NChumanities

It's a big weekend for Longleaf Productions. Our film on North Carolina's Rosenwald Schools is in competition in TWO film festivals: the Tryon International Film Festival and the Raleigh Film & Art Festival. Wherever you are, patronize your film festivals. They are tons of fun!

We are indebted to the National Endowment for the Humanities for the generous support that made this film possible. .gov

(Archival photo by the late Hugh Morton, courtesy Southern Historical Collection, UNC).

We joined historian and friend Dr. Tom Hanchett in Tryon the other day, where the Tryon History Museum hosted a double-header program on Rosenwald Schools. Hanchett, whose research and publications in the late 1980s helped bring Rosenwald Schools to the attention of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, offered a brief overview and details on the remarkable architectural features of the schools. Plus, the plans selected for Tryon Colored School, rare photos, and a salute to its most famous alumna, Eunice Waymon. The world knows her better as Nina Simone.
Next up was the premiere of Longleaf's 30-minute documentary on North Carolina's Rosenwald Schools, "Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity."
Happy to report that the audience (which included at least one Rosenwald alum as well as kin) approved!

Hannah School in Newberry County, S.C., is a fragile surviving Rosenwald School. It stands across Deadfall Road from Hannah A.M.E. Church, as it has since 1925. Voice-over talent George Washington III joined us to film the opening narration for our documentary on South Carolina's Rosenwald Schools. The caretakers from Hannah Church kindly allowed us to peek inside, where we found things remarkably well preserved. The real surprise was an engraved marble slab (a recycled headstone) noting the school's trustees and building committee. For more on what makes the slab so remarkable, see the photo caption.

Now’s the time to have your say.

National Park Service seeks public input on the Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools Special Resource Study - Office of Communications (U.S. National Park Service) Photo used with permission from Andrew Feiler from the book "A Better Life for Their Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, and the 4,978 Schools that Changed America."

South Carolina’s Pine Grove School back in the spotlight.