NEWS

In the Jim Crow era, Black Americans were systematically disadvantaged in education, as in other areas of American life. Public schools in the South were racially segregated, and Black schools were chronically underfunded. Under the leadership of Booker T. Washington, and with seed money provided by Jewish business leader Julius Rosenwald, Black communities in the South constructed over 5,000 schools to educate Black students in the first decades of the 20th century, including two dozen schools in Mecklenburg County. Historian Tom Hanchett will introduce us to the Rosenwald Schools and screen the documentary Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity: The Rosenwald Schools of North Carolina.

Event Details

Date: April 16
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Cost:  Free and open to the public.
Location: Davidson Town Hall Auditorium, 251 South Street, Davidson, NC **

** Please enter the building through the double red doors next to the main entrance on South Street.

About the Speaker

Tom Hanchett is a community historian in Charlotte, who enjoys working with community groups on neighborhood histories, museum exhibitions and walking tours.

Educated at Cornell University, the University of Chicago, and UNC Chapel Hill, he has published articles on a wide range of topics and is best known for his history of Charlotte, Sorting Out the New South City (University of North Carolina Press). Charlotte Magazine calls him “Charlotte’s Dr. History” and named him a Charlottean of the Year.