Rosenwald

This documentary should be shown on every secondary school and college campus. It is the story of a man who acquired wealth and influence, so it is a motivational story. It is also the story of a man who saw wrongs in our society and chose to stand up and personally do something about them. He used his wealth and influence to make life better for millions of his fellow human beings. They are the very messages that will resonate with young people who are mapping and preparing for their own futures and figuring out where they fit in the world. The narrative of the story is personal as told through the experiences of his family and inspiring as told by individuals such as Maya Angelou. It a spellbinding story that made me want to reach for great heights as I left the theater.

Julius Rosenwald was the son of German Jewish immigrants who settled in Springfield, Illinois. He was apprenticed to family in the garment business in New York before he graduated from high school. From his initial job as a traveling peddler he used his business acumen and organizational skills to build Sears Roebuck into the world's largest retail firm. But business alone was not the purpose of Rosenwald's life. His faith played a role in motivating him to improve the world. He was one of the white philanthropists who played a key role in supporting the achievements of artists, musicians, and writers during the Harlem Renaissance. Through the Rosenwald Fund, he awarded over 1000 fellowships that allowed talented African Americans to achieve their potential. Through his friendship with Booker T. Washington he saw the neglected, in some cases non-existent, state of educational facilities for black children in the south and launched the initiative that resulted in over 5000 Rosenwald Schools throughout the south.

This is not a tedious documentary. It is a life-affirming story that is told with historical accuracy and vintage visuals. If you've never seen a documentary, go see this one. If you've seen other documentaries, see this one to see just how good the film medium can be at telling an inspiring story.

Well done documentaries educate us in interesting ways, but so often they leave us angry or frustrated or worse. This film about Julius Rosenwald, a man I never heard of before, is uplifting and inspiring at the same time it tells a story that few people know about a Jewish businessman who helped build and ultimately owned Sears Roebuck, whose generosity built more than 5,000 schools for African Americans in the rural south who otherwise would have been educated in one-room shacks. He also built a museum, a beautiful housing project, and provided scholarships for many of the best known African American writers and cultural icons.

Unlike many documentaries, this one brings the story to life with archival footage and some footage from movies or recreated scenes, and the talking heads include Julian Bond, civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, and Maya Angelou. The movie theater was packed, enthusiastic, and was the most integrated audience I have ever seen in Northwest D.C.

If you want to learn about a historical figure who deserves to be known and admired, learn a little civil rights and Chicago history, have some laughs and leave a movie theater feeling good about humanity, I recommend this documentary.