ROCK HILL, S.C. – In 1925, West End Elementary school opened for African American students. This school was one of many Rosenwald schools in area.
Rosenwald schools were created to provide African Americans a comfortable environment for education and advancement. Dr. Kenneth Alston was a student West End and shared his experience through the years.
“Julis Rosenwald came friends with Booker T. Washington and Washington convinced him to provide funding to build Elementary and High Schools for African American back in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Through Julis contributions, he built more than 5,000 school. These schools were the first schools to provide former education for African Americans in this country. says Alston
Alston also shared Emmett Scott High School, Fairfield Elementary , Sunset Park Elementary, Hillcrest Elementary , Edgewood Elementary and Castle Heights Elementary were also apart of Rosenwald Schools. When asked if student were taught about African American history here’s what Alston had to say
“At that time there was very little taught about African American Culture, the books that we got in our classrooms were hand me downs from the white school. You could see a lot of times some pages were missing, or people wrote in them.” says Alston
Saturday, June 19th, The Historical Marker Ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. with a parade starting at Boyd Hill Baptist Church.
