Rosenwald fellowships backed Marian Anderson and Hughes

Person: Julius Rosenwald
Lived: 1862–1932
Field: Retail & philanthropy
From: American

The story

Julius Rosenwald, the president of Sears, Roebuck, believed that money should be used responsibly while the giver was alive. In 1917 he set up the Rosenwald Fund to support 'the well-being of mankind', mainly but not only for African Americans. Unlike most foundations, which were designed to last for ever, it was meant to spend all its money, and it closed in 1948. Rosenwald disliked the idea of a 'dead hand' controlling charity long after its founder had gone. Over his lifetime he and his fund gave more than $70 million to schools, colleges, museums, Jewish charities and African-American institutions.

The fund's best-known work was building thousands of schools for Black children in the rural South. The fund also looked beyond the schoolhouse, to the talented adults whose research, writing and art could enrich the whole country.

Beginning in 1928 the fund handed out more than $400,000 in fellowships of $1,000 and $2,000 to rising stars in music, art, literature, science and academia. The vast majority went to Black Americans. The grants gave recipients something rare at the time: money and time to study, travel, create and complete their work. Over the life of the fund, fellowships and other grants went to close to a thousand people.

The fellowships helped propel many recipients to success. They included the writer and activist James Weldon Johnson, the singer Marian Anderson, the diplomat Ralph Bunche, the scholar W. E. B. Du Bois, the poet Langston Hughes, the novelists Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin, and the historian John Hope Franklin. Between them these men and women went on to shape American literature, music, history, diplomacy and the struggle for civil rights.

Rosenwald himself died in 1932, but the fund carried on his work until its money was spent. Because he insisted on keeping his name off the projects he paid for, his role is often forgotten today. Yet the list of Rosenwald fellows reads like a roll call of twentieth-century Black achievement, and it shows how carefully targeted support at the right moment can help gifted people change their country's culture.

Why it matters

The Rosenwald fellowships gave gifted Black artists and scholars time and freedom to work, helping shape American literature, music and scholarship.

About Julius Rosenwald

Clothier who turned Sears, Roebuck into America’s great mail-order retailer, then helped build nearly 5,000 schools for Black children across the segregated South.

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Julius Rosenwald

1862–1932 · Retail & philanthropy

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