Q&A
Dear Mr. Rosenwald
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By Carole Boston Weatherford Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie Scholastic Press (September 1, 2006) 32 pp., $16.99 ISBN: 0439495229
Based on the true story of the Rosenwald schools built in the South in the 1920s, Dear Mr. Rosenwald tells the lyrical story of third grader Ovella and her hopes for a new school. Inspired by Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald, the son of an immigrant and the president of Sears, Roebuck and Co., donated millions of dollars to build schools for African-American children in the rural South. Local residents had to raise matching funds, provide land and sweat equity and secure furniture, equipment, supplies and, sometimes, buses. This is the story of one Rosenwald school and of a community that dreamed things could be different. Book Sense Autumn 2006 Children's Picks List
Starred review from Kirkus Reviews: [T]his terrific picture book uses evocative free verse to describe the building of a school for black children using seed money from Julius Rosenwald, the Sears catalog magnate. Accomplished yet accessible, this is an important book for every library.
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Q: Who is Mr. Rosenwald?
Julius Rosenwald, the president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, was a Jewish philanthropist who served on the board of Tuskegee Institute, a black college in Alabama that was founded by ex-slave Booker T. Washington. A proponent of literacy and education for African Americans, Washington urged Rosenwald to provide matching funds to build schools in rural communities in the South. More than 5,000 such schools were erected—2,500-plus in North Carolina alone.
Q: What drew you to this subject?
My father attended a one-room school outside Easton, Maryland in the 1930s, and my mother-in-law attended a Rosenwald school in Caswell County, North Carolina in the 1940s. I wanted to show the struggles that African Americans faced to get an education that for them embodied hope. Both of my parents attended and began their teaching careers in segregated all-black schools. Separate but equal policies aside, these teachers and students did so much with so little. Their resourcefulness was awe-inspiring. I wrote Dear Mr. Rosenwald to document the African-American community’s investment and involvement in education during the Jim Crow era.
Q: How did you research the subject?
I studied the history of the Rosenwald school initiative, read recollections of former students and viewed building plans and photographs of the schools.
Q: Why did you choose historical fiction rather than nonfiction to tell the story?
I wanted to give the story emotional immediacy, so the action unfolds through the eyes of Ovella, a sharecropper’s daughter. She watches eagerly as plans progress, funds are raised, building begins, and her new school opens.
Q: Why did you decide to tell this story in poems?
Telling the story as a series of narrative poems in first-person enabled me to use the main character’s voice to full effect. Poetry lends an intimacy that prose can not.
Q: What effect is created with your words and Gregory Christie’s illustrations?
Gregory Christie’s folk-art style paintings evoke the geographic and emotional setting. His style is reminiscent of my favorite Harlem Renaissance artist, William Johnson.
Q: What message does the story impart?
There are two lessons. Never underestimate the power of generosity, community and hard work. Education is well-worth our energy and investment.