In 2006, members of the Albemarle County Historic Preservation Committee began collecting oral histories from former Rosenwald students and teachers. In 2008, the Committee returned to this project and broadened their scope to research and collect information from a broad range of communities throughout the Piedmont. Dr. Lynn Rainville and Ms. Sara Lee Barnes are co-chairs of the Rosenwald Sub-Committee. Concurrently, the Virginia Center for Digital History began a collaboration with the Scrabble School (a Rosenwald School in Rappahannock County). Dr. Scot French interviewed more than a dozen alums and work is underway to post excerpts of these oral histories on-line. Both of these projects are generously funded by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.
Our first step is to research schools in Albemarle County. Next we will begin meeting with community members and historical societies in central Virginia to help research and preserve the histoic records and, hopefully, buildings associated with these schools. If you have information about a Virginian Rosenwald School (including photos, remembrances, or historic records) please contact us using the links in the header menu.