During the 2022 NADO Annual Training Conference, Wanda Christian presented on the history of the Isaac Chapel Rosenwald School, now the Isaac Chapel Historical Museum and Education Center.

1. Isaac Chapel
Rosenwald School
NADO Project
Wanda Christian, Presenter
Northeast Mississippi Planning and Development District

2. The Beginning . . . .
Isaac Chapel Rosenwald School
 The Isaac Chapel Rosenwald
School is one of the few
surviving Rosenwald schools in
Mississippi.
 It was constructed nearly a
century ago to provide much-
needed education for African-
American children.

3. Booker T. Washington
(April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915)
 Booker T. Washington was
President of the Tuskegee Institute
in Alabama.
 Washington's work on education
helped him enlist both the moral
and substantial financial support of
many major philanthropists,
including Sears, Roebuck &
Company President Julius
Rosenwald.

4. Julius Rosenwald
(August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932)
 Julius Rosenwald was an American
businessman and philanthropist.
 He is best known as a part-owner and
leader of Sears, Roebuck and
Company, and for establishing
the Rosenwald Fund, which donated
millions in matching funds to promote
vocational or technical education.

5. 1910’s – 1920’s
 In the 1910s, hope for a better educational future for children came from the
newly-established Rosenwald Fund - an alliance between Julius Rosenwald
and Booker T. Washington.
 Rosenwald used his money to fund Progressive Era projects and causes – one
of those being Southern education.
 In order to get a Rosenwald School built, Washington and Rosenwald
requested that each community that needed a school be required to raise a
certain portion of the money.
 According to surviving records, the Rosenwald Fund provided a $1,000
donation, the White community donated $200, and the African-American
community provided the remaining $2,600 to fund the creation of the school.

6. 1910’s – 1920’s
 The first Rosenwald schools began in Alabama in 1912, though the schools
soon spread across the South and to Mississippi.
 By the early 1920s, there were one hundred and forty-one Rosenwald schools
built in Mississippi.
 The Rosenwald Fund provided various construction plans and a percentage of
starting funds to the newly-established schools.
 In Marshall County, the Isaac Chapel Rosenwald School, located south of
Byhalia, was constructed in 1921-1922 by various entities in Marshall County.
 According to surviving records, the Rosenwald Fund provided a $1,000
donation, the White community donated $200, and the African-American
community provided the remaining $2,600 to fund the creation of the school.

7. 1910’s – 1920’s
 The Isaac Chapel Rosenwald School Building
 Contained four classrooms
 Was a frame building with a composition roof
 Used electricity as power
 Used coal for heat
 Utilized a hand pump for water
 Utilized outdoor toilets
 The Four-Acre Isaac Chapel Rosenwald Campus included
 A flagpole
 Two basketball courts
 Baseball field

8. 1930’s – 1970’s . . . Present Day
 The Rosenwald Fund represented the most significant advancement in African-
American education since the beginning of public education.
 The Isaac Chapel Rosenwald School survived for over forty years, educating
several generations of African-American children.
 In 1964, the school closed.
 The building was later used for Head Start under the management of the Child
Development Group of Mississippi, but this closed in 1972.
 The building has remained empty since that time.
 It is owned by Marshall County and has been used by the County for storage.

9. 1930’s – 1970’s . . . Present Day
 Though the exterior of the building has been significantly altered, some exterior
components of the Rosenwald school survive, including the unusual native
stone steps at the front entrance and the original main door, with a gabled
entrance awning supported by triangular braces.
 The interior of the building remains largely intact, including the large classroom
spaces and the rare surviving 5-panel folding doors that separated the
individual classrooms.

10. Before Renovations

11. Before Renovations

12. Before Renovations

13. Before Renovations

14. Before Renovations

15. Before Renovations

16. Before Renovations

17. Before Renovations

18. Before Renovations

19. Before Renovations

20. Before Renovations

21. Before Renovations

22. After Renovations

23. After Renovations

24. After Renovations

25. Landmark Status
 The Isaac Chapel Restoration Committee was established, and the members
discussed saving and restoring the history and heritage of the school.
 The project received Landmark Status (the highest form of historical
protection a structure can receive in Mississippi) from the Mississippi
Department of Archives and History in 2017.
 A MDAH grant was awarded for the renovation of the existing school in the
amount of $268,744 (55%) and Marshall County pledged $217,335 (45%),
totaling $486,079.

26. A Brief Note About The Isaac Chapel
Rosenwald School Alumni/Alumnae and Staff
 Many students and teachers of the Isaac Chapel Rosenwald School still reside in
Marshall County.
 They have excelled in their careers and have become very successful as a result
of attending this school.
 Ms. Annie Kizer-Porter, an alumnae, noted, “My first school, so many memories.
It was a great school, and many of the students went on to become teachers,
lawyers, politicians, doctors, and other distinguishing jobs after completing high
school and college.

27. Museum and Education Center
 The Isaac Chapel Rosenwald School is now the Isaac Chapel Rosenwald
Historical Museum and Education Center.
 The new Museum and Education Center held a Grand Opening and Ribbon
Cutting with over 100 residents that were former students, state and local
politicians, and legislators present.
 The facility will display artifacts donated by former teachers, students, and local
residents.
 Various educational classes will be available, and the history of Marshall County
will be shared.
 The facility will be available for class reunions, family reunions, weddings, and
receptions.

28. Mississippi Department of
Archives & History
 The Isaac Chapel Rosenwald School is one of only a dozen surviving Rosenwald
schools in Mississippi.
 The importance of the Isaac Chapel School, along with other surviving
Rosenwald schools in the State, is hard to overstate.
 Jennifer Baughn, a historian with the Mississippi Department of Archives and
History and expert on the Rosenwald Schools in Mississippi, has stated that the
Rosenwald schools were “the only philanthropic effort in the early 20th Century
to concentrate on improving the learning environment of Black students in the
South”.

29. Resources
 Isaacchapelschool.org
 Wikipedia.org
 Images: hillcountryhistory.org; loc.gov; nps.gov; Mills & Mills Architect PC