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Rosenwald school still imparting lessons
Published October 27, 2009
In a county known for cherishing its impressive history, it was heartening to see the 14-year effort to refurbish and reopen the Columbia Rosenwald School building finally come to fruition.
The school for black children, then in East Columbia, opened in 1921 in the days when integration remained a distant dream that wouldn’t be realized for two more generations. Yet, the simple schoolhouse stood as a vital center of hope and learning for the people it served.
Among those former Rosenwald students was Creola Diggs-Green, now 82. She was on hand for Saturday’s re-opening ceremony for the school-turned-museum, which is at 247 E. Brazos in West Columbia. Teary-eyed, Diggs-Green summed up what many in the crowd of 150 or so were thinking, “This is really emotional for me. They’ve done a beautiful thing here.”
The project began in 1995, about the time the old school — which served as a school from 1921-48 — was found serving as hay barn. Funding was a problem that delayed efforts early on, despite the historic nature of the building. Not only was the school the first for the county’s black children, it is just one of 33 that have been saved out of the 500 in Texas that were created from seed money provided in 1912 by Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald, the president of Sears, Roebuck and Co., according to a front-page article in Sunday’s Facts.
The efforts to preserve the schoolhouse took off when The National Trust for Historic Preservation named the Rosenwald School in 2002 to a list of its 11 most endangered historic places. The designation led to major grants and donations amounting to about $165,000.
But it wasn’t just money that saved this important piece of Brazoria County’s legacy. As Columbia Museum board member Naomi Antill Smith pointed out, many community members volunteered many hours toward the effort.
Now the school has been returned almost to the state it existed when it educated the area’s black children, and plans call for an interactive children’s museum to show today’s students what a school was like in the “old days.” It also serves as an important reminder to the general public about how society has changed, the Rev. Annie Ray said during the ceremony.
“It’s turned into a symbol for how far we’ve come in West Columbia,” she said.
It also is a symbol of what can be accomplished by a dedicated group of people who understand the importance of the schoolhouse and to preserving history as a learning tool for generations to come.
This editorial was written by Dale Dimitri, copy editor for The Facts.
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