The Rosenwald Fund (also known as the Rosenwald Foundation, the Julius Rosenwald Fund, and the Julius Rosenwald Foundation) was established in 1917 by

Julius Rosenwald Julius Rosenwald (August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932) 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 ...

and his family for "the well-being of mankind." Rosenwald became part-owner of

Sears, Roebuck and Company Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

in 1895, serving as its president from 1908 to 1922, and chairman of its board of directors until his death in 1932.

History

Unlike other endowed foundations, which were designed to fund themselves in perpetuity, the Rosenwald Fund was designed to expend all of its funds for philanthropic purposes before a predetermined "sunset date." It donated over $70 million to public schools,

colleges A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

and

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

museums A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

charities A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a cha ...

, and

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

institutions before funds were completely depleted in 1948. The rural school building program for African-American children was one of the largest programs administered by the Rosenwald Fund. Over $4.4 million in matching funds stimulated construction of more than 5,000

one-room school One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

s (and larger ones), as well as shops and teachers' homes, mostly in the South, where public schools were segregated and black schools had been chronically underfunded. This was particularly so after disenfranchisement of most blacks from the political system in southern states at the turn of the 20th century. The Fund required white school boards to agree to operate such schools and to arrange for matching funds, in addition to requiring black communities to raise funds or donate property and labor to construct the schools. These schools, constructed to models designed by

architects An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now known as

Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was d ...

), became known as "

Rosenwald School The Rosenwald School project built more than 5,000 schools, shops, and teacher homes in the United States primarily for the education of African-American children in the South during the early 20th century. The project was the product of the part ...

s." In some communities, surviving structures have been preserved and recognized as

landmarks A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

for their historical character and social significance. The

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...

has classified them as National Treasures. The Rosenwald Fund also made fellowship grants directly to African-American artists, writers, researchers and intellectuals between 1928 and 1948. Civil rights leader

Julian Bond Horace Julian Bond (January 14, 1940 – August 15, 2015) was an American social activist, leader of the civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. While he was a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the e ...

, whose father received a Rosenwald fellowship, has called the list of grantees a "Who's Who of black America in the 1930s and 1940s." Hundreds of grants were disbursed to artists, writers and other cultural figures, many of whom became prominent or already were, including photographers

Gordon Parks Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was an American photographer, composer, author, poet, and film director, who became prominent in U.S. documentary photojournalism in the 1940s through 1970s—particu ...

Elizabeth Catlett Elizabeth Catlett, born as Alice Elizabeth Catlett, also known as Elizabeth Catlett Mora (April 15, 1915 – April 2, 2012) was an African American sculptor and graphic artist best known for her depictions of the Black-American experience in th ...

Marion Palfi Marion Palfi (1907–1978) was a German-American social-documentary photographer born in Berlin. In 1940 she moved from Germany to New York City to escape the Nazi army and their ideologies. Early life Palfi was the daughter of German theater de ...

, poets

Claude McKay Festus Claudius "Claude" McKay OJ (September 15, 1890See Wayne F. Cooper, ''Claude McKay, Rebel Sojourner In The Harlem Renaissance (New York, Schocken, 1987) p. 377 n. 19. As Cooper's authoritative biography explains, McKay's family predated ...

, Dr. Charles Drew,

Augusta Savage Augusta Savage (born Augusta Christine Fells; February 29, 1892 – March 27, 1962) was an American sculptor associated with the Harlem Renaissance. She was also a teacher whose studio was important to the careers of a generation of artists who w ...

, anthropologist and dancer

Katherine Dunham Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 – May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for ma ...

, singer

Marian Anderson Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897April 8, 1993) was an American contralto. She performed a wide range of music, from opera to Spiritual (music), spirituals. Anderson performed with renowned orchestras in major concert and recital venues throu ...

, silversmith

Winifred Mason Winifred Mason (January 31, 1912 – 1993) was an African-American jeweler who was active in New York during the 1940s. She worked primarily in copper, and was inspired by West Indian cultural traditions. She is believed to be the first commercia ...

, writers

Ralph Ellison Ralph Waldo Ellison (March 1, 1913 – April 16, 1994) was an American writer, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel ''Invisible Man'', which won the National Book Award in 1953. He also wrote ''Shadow and Act'' (1964), a collecti ...

W.E.B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...

James Weldon Johnson James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871June 26, 1938) was an American writer and civil rights activist. He was married to civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peop ...

, psychologists

Kenneth Kenneth is an English given name and surname. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a byna ...

and

Mamie Clark Mamie Phipps Clark (April 18, 1917 - August 11, 1983) was an African-American social psychologist who, along with her husband Kenneth Clark, focused on the development of self-consciousness in black preschool children. Clark was born and raised i ...

, dermatologist

Theodore K. Lawless Theodore Kenneth (T.K.)"Theodore La ...

, and poets

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

and

Rita Dove Rita Frances Dove (born August 28, 1952) is an American poet and essayist. From 1993 to 1995, she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She is the first African American to have been appointed since the posit ...

. Kenneth Turan, "Review 'Rosenwald' reveals a philanthropist with a mission"
''Los Angeles Times'', 27 August 2015, accessed 2 November 2015 Fellowships of around $1,000 to $2,000 were given out yearly to applicants and were usually designed to be open-ended; the Foundation requested but did not require grantees to report back on what they accomplished with the support. In 1929, the Rosenwald Fund funded a syphilis treatment pilot program in five Southern states. The Rosenwald project emphasized locating people with

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...

and treating them, during a time when syphilis was widespread in poor African-American communities. The Fund ended its involvement in 1932, due to lack of matching state funds (the Fund required jurisdictions to contribute to efforts to increase collaboration on solving problems). After the Fund ceased its involvement, the federal government decided to take over the funding and changed its mission to being a non-therapeutic study. The infamous

Tuskegee syphilis study The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male (informally referred to as the Tuskegee Experiment or Tuskegee Syphilis Study) was a study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the United States Public Health Service (PHS) and the Cente ...

began later that year, tracking the progress of untreated disease, and took advantage of poor participants by not informing them fully of its constraints. Even after penicillin became recognized as approved treatment for this disease, researchers did not treat the study participants.

Notable fellowship recipients

This is a selected list of notable Rosenwald Fund Fellowship recipients from the years the fund's fellowship program was active, 1928-1948.

1928

, writer and activist; returning fellow 1930-1931

1929

Frances Davis Frances Reed Elliott Davis (28 April c. 1882 – 11 May 1965), was an American nurse and community activist. Life Frances Davis was born on 28 April, about 1882, probably in Shelby, North Carolina to a mixed-race family. Her mother died when she ...

, nurse and activist *

Abram Lincoln Harris Abram Lincoln Harris, Jr. (January 17, 1899 – November 6, 1963) was an American economist, academic, anthropologist and a social critic of the condition of blacks in the United States. Considered by many as the first African American to achiev ...

, economist; returning fellow 1939, 1945 *

Willis J. King Willis Jefferson King (October 1, 1886 – 1976) was an African-American Methodist bishop, college professor and author. Education and career King attended Wiley College, Boston University School of Theology, and Harvard University, and rece ...

, Methodist bishop, college president, and sociologist * Flemmie Pansy Kittrell, nutritionist * Ruby Stutts Lyells, librarian *

, sculptor; 1929-1931 fellowship *

Julian Steele Julian Denegal Steele (October 20, 1906 – January 17, 1970) was an American social worker, activist, and federal, state, and local office holder—often the first black person to hold such a post in New England. Early life and education Steele w ...

, social worker, politician, and activist; 1929-1930 fellowship *

Clarence Cameron White Clarence Cameron White (August 10, 1880 – June 30, 1960) was an American neoromantic composer and concert violinist. Dramatic works by the composer were his best-known, such as the incidental music for the play ''Tambour'' and the opera ''Ouang ...

, composer and violinist; 1929-1931 fellowship

1930

Franz Alexander Franz Gabriel Alexander (22 January 1891 – 8 March 1964) was a Hungarian-American psychoanalyst and physician, who is considered one of the founders of psychosomatic medicine and psychoanalytic criminology. Life Franz Gabriel Alexander, i ...

, psychoanalyst; 1930-1932 fellowship *

, opera singer *

Richmond Barthé James Richmond Barthé, also known as Richmond Barthé (January 28, 1901 – March 5, 1989) was an African-American sculptor associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Barthé is best known for his portrayal of black subjects. The focus of his arti ...

, sculptor *

William E. Blatz William Emet Blatz (; June 30, 1895 – November 1, 1964) was a German-Canadian developmental psychologist who was director of the University of Toronto's Institute of Child Study from 1925 until his retirement in 1960. He authored numerous book ...

, developmental psychologist *

William Stanley Braithwaite William Stanley Beaumont Braithwaite (December 6, 1878 – June 8, 1962) was an African-American writer, poet, literary critic, anthologist, and publisher. His work as a critic and anthologist was widely praised and important in the development of ...

, writer * Paul Cornely, physician, public health pioneer, and activist *

Ethel McGhee Davis Ethel Elizabeth McGhee Davis (November 30, 1899July 13, 1990) was an American educator, social worker, and college administrator. She served as the student adviser (1928–1931) and as the Dean of Women (1931–1932) for Spelman College in Atla ...

social worker and university dean * Mollie E. Dunlap, librarian and bibliographer; 1930-1931 fellowship *

Ruby Elzy Ruby Pearl Elzy (February 20, 1908 – June 26, 1943) was an American operatic soprano. She appeared on stage and in films. She recorded on albums before her death in her 30s from surgery to remove a benign tumor. Family and early life Elzy ...

, opera singer; 1930-1931 fellowship *

Simon Haley Simon Alexander Haley (March 8, 1892 – August 19, 1973) was a professor of agriculture, and father of writer Alex Haley. He was born in Savannah, Tennessee, to farmer Alexander "Alec" Haley and his wife Queen (Davy) Haley (née Jackson). Both ...

, agricultural scientist * Charles S. Johnson, sociologist and university president * Dorothy B. Porter, librarian, bibliographer, and curator; 1930-1931 fellowship, returning fellow 1944 *

Carleton Washburne Carleton Wolsey Washburne (December 2, 1889 – November 28, 1968) was an American educator and education reformer. He served as the superintendent of schools in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, from 1919 to 1943 and is most notably associated ...

, education reformer *

Monroe Work Monroe Nathan Work (August 15, 1866 – May 2, 1945) was an African-American sociologist who founded the Department of Records and Research at the Tuskegee Institute in 1908. His published works include the ''Negro Year Book'' and '' A Bibliograph ...

, sociologist and archivist

1931

Horace Mann Bond Horace Mann Bond (November 8, 1904 – December 21, 1972) was an American historian, college administrator, social science researcher and the father of civil-rights leader Julian Bond. He earned a master's and doctorate from University of Ch ...

, historian, social scientist, and college administrator; 1931-1932 fellowship *

Ralph Bunche Ralph Johnson Bunche (; August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist, diplomat, and leading actor in the mid-20th-century decolonization process and US civil rights movement, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize f ...

, political scientist and diplomat * Alan Busby, agricultural scientist *

Mercer Cook Will Mercer Cook (March 30, 1903 – October 4, 1987), popularly known as Mercer Cook, was a diplomat and professor. He was the first American ambassador to the Gambia after it became independent, appointed in 1965 while also still serving a ...

, diplomat, writer and translator; returning fellow 1937 * Mabel Byrd, economist and civil rights activist *

John Dollard John Dollard (29 August 1900 – 8 October 1980) was an American psychologist and social scientist known for his studies on race relations in America and the frustration-aggression hypothesis he proposed with Neal E. Miller and others. Life and ...

, psychologist and social scientist *

Charles R. Drew Charles Richard Drew (June 3, 1904 – April 1, 1950) was an American surgeon and medical researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his expert knowledge to devel ...

, surgeon and medical researcher *

Louis Israel Dublin Louis Israel Dublin (November 1, 1882 – March 7, 1969) was a Jewish American statistician. As vice president and statistician of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, he promoted progressive and socially useful insurance underwriting policies. ...

, statistician *

, sociologist, historian, writer, civil rights activist; returning fellow 1933-1934 *

Ruth Anna Fisher Ruth Anna Fisher (March 15, 1886 – January 28, 1975) was an American historian, archivist, and teacher who played a major role in collecting sources from British archives for the Carnegie Institution and Library of Congress. Early life Fisher w ...

, historian and archivist *

Roscoe Conkling Giles Roscoe Conkling Giles (May 6, 1890 – February 9, 1970) was an American medical doctor and surgeon. He was the first African American to earn a degree from Cornell University Medical College. Giles worked as a surgeon at Provident Hospital in Ch ...

, surgeon and physician *

, poet, activist, novelist and playwright, returning fellow 1941 *

Henry A. Hunt Henry Alexander Hunt (October 10, 1866 – October 1, 1938) was an American educator who led efforts to reach blacks in rural areas of Georgia. He was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peopl ...

, education reformer *

Raphael Lanier Raphael O'Hara Lanier (April 28, 1900 – December 17, 1962) was an American diplomat to Liberia. Lanier was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, the first inter-collegiate Greek alphabet, Greek letter Fraternities and sororities, organizatio ...

, diplomat *

Camille Nickerson Camille Lucie Nickerson (March 30, 1888 – April 27, 1982) was an American pianist, composer, arranger, collector, and Howard University professor from 1926 to 1962. She was influenced by Creole folksongs of Louisiana, which she arranged and ...

, pianist, composer, and musicologist *

William Edouard Scott William Edouard Scott (March 11, 1884 – May 15, 1964) was an African-American artist. Before Alain Locke asked African Americans to create and portray the '' New Negro'' that would thrust them into the future, artists like William Edouard ...

, painter * John W. Work III, composer and musicologist; 1931-1932 fellowship

1932

* Wallace A. Battle, education reformer and university founder *

Ambrose Caliver Ambrose Caliver (1894–1962) was an American teacher and Dean who changed the face of Black education on a national scale. Caliver devoted much of his professional life to adult literacy, although he also took an active role in such matters as dis ...

, education reformer * Allison Davis, anthropologist; returning fellow 1939-1940 *

Ellsworth Faris Ellsworth Faris (September 30, 1874 – December 19, 1953) was an influential sociologist of the Chicago school (sociology), Chicago school. Faris was born in 1874 in Salem, Tennessee, Salem, Tennessee. He studied at Texas Christian University, wh ...

, sociologist

1933

Margaret Bonds Margaret Allison Bonds ( – ) was an American composer, pianist, arranger, and teacher. One of the first Black composers and performers to gain recognition in the United States, she is best remembered today for her popular arrangements of Afric ...

, composer and pianist *

John P. Davis John Preston Davis (January 19, 1905 – September 11, 1973) was an American journalist, lawyer and activist intellectual, who became prominent for his work with the Joint Committee on National Recovery (JCNR). In 1935, he co-founded the ...

, journalist, lawyer and activist

1934

Lorenzo Greene Lorenzo Johnston Greene (1899–1988) was an American educator who taught history at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri from 1933 to 1972. His book, ''Missouri’s Black Heritage'', co-authored by Antonio Holland and Gary Kremer, ...

, historian; returning fellow 1940 *

Percy Lavon Julian Percy Lavon Julian (April 11, 1899 – April 19, 1975) was an American research chemist and a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants. He was the first to synthesize the natural product physostigmine and was a pioneer in ...

, research chemist and pharmaceutical innovator; 1934-1935 fellowship * Kelly Miller, mathematician, sociologist and writer

1935

St. Clair Drake John Gibbs St. Clair Drake (January 2, 1911 – June 15, 1990)Calloway, Earl (June 28, 1990). "Memorial services held for Dr. Drake, noted author and Roosevelt professor." ''Chicago Defender'', p. 10. was an African-American sociologist and anthr ...

, sociologist and anthropologist; 1935-1937 fellowship, returning fellow 1946 *

, dancer and choreographer; 1935-1936 fellowship *

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...

, writer, anthropologist and filmmaker *

, writer and poet; returning fellow 1943

1936

Josephine Wilkins Josephine Mathewson Wilkins (September 30, 1893 – May 30, 1977) was an American social activist, president of the Georgia State League of Women Voters. She is a 2022 inductee into the Georgia Women of Achievement. Early life Josephine Math ...

, civil rights activist

1937

Lewis White Beck Lewis White Beck (September 26, 1913 – June 7, 1997) was an American philosopher and scholar of German philosophy. Beck was Burbank Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at the University of Rochester and served as the Philosophy D ...

, philosopher *

Benjamin A. Botkin Benjamin Albert Botkin (February 7, 1901 – July 30, 1975) was an American folklorist and scholar. Early life Botkin was born on February 7, 1901, in East Boston, Massachusetts, to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants. He attended the English High Schoo ...

, folklorist and writer *

Harmon White Caldwell Harmon White Caldwell (January 29, 1899 – April 15, 1977) was President of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens from 1935 until 1948 and Chancellor of the University System of Georgia from 1948 to 1964. Caldwell was born in the Carmel C ...

, lawyer and university president *

John Tyler Caldwell John Tyler Caldwell (December 19, 1911 – October 13, 1995) was an American educator who presided over three universities, including North Carolina State University. Early life John Tyler Caldwell was born on December 19, 1911 in Yazoo City, Mis ...

, political scientist and university president; 1937-1938 fellowship *

Horace R. Cayton, Jr. Horace Roscoe Cayton Jr. (April 12, 1903 – January 21, 1970) was a prominent American sociologist, newspaper columnist, and writer who specialized in studies of working-class black Americans, particularly in mid-20th-century Chicago. Cayton ...

, sociologist and writer * William Schieffelin Claytor, mathematician; 1937-1938 fellowship *

Frank Marshall Davis Frank Marshall Davis (December 31, 1905 – July 26, 1987) was an American journalist, poet, political and labor movement activist, and businessman. Davis began his career writing for African American newspapers in Chicago. He moved to Atlanta ...

, writer and labor activist * Aaron Douglas, painter *

John Hope Franklin John Hope Franklin (January 2, 1915 – March 25, 2009) was an American historian of the United States and former president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Histo ...

, historian; 1937-1938 fellowship * Margaret Jarman Hagood, sociologist and demographer * Clinton Everett Knox, diplomat; 1937-1938 fellowship * James Raymond Lawson, physicist and university president; 1937-1938 fellowship * Ralph E. McGill, journalist and newspaper publisher *

Benjamin Arthur Quarles Benjamin Arthur Quarles (January 23, 1904 – November 16, 1996) was an American historian, administrator, educator, and writer, whose scholarship centered on black American social and political history. Major books by Quarles include ''The Negro ...

, historian; returning fellow 1945 *

Bonita H. Valien Bonita H. Valien (1912-2011) was an African-American sociologist. She was an associate professor of sociology at Fisk University, a historically black university in Nashville, Tennessee, and the author of several books about desegregation in the ...

, sociologist and writer; returning fellow 1939 * Preston Valien, sociologist and writer; returning fellow 1939

1938

* Arna W. Bontemps, poet, writer, and librarian; returning fellow 1942 *

John Aubrey Davis, Sr. John Aubrey Davis Sr. (May 10, 1912 – December 17, 2002) was an African-American political science professor and activist of the Civil Rights Movement. He served as the head academic researcher on the historic ''Brown v. Board of Education'' (195 ...

, political scientist and civil rights activist; 1938-1940 fellowship *

Shirley Graham Du Bois Shirley Graham Du Bois (born Lola Shirley Graham Jr.; November 11, 1896 – March 27, 1977) was an American writer, playwright, composer, and activist for African-American causes, among others. She won the Messner and the Anisfield-Wolf prizes f ...

, writer, composer, and activist; 1938-1939 fellowship *

Rufus Carrollton Harris Rufus Carrollton Harris (c. 1898 – August 18, 1988) was the president of Tulane University from 1937 to 1959 and the 12th dean of the Tulane University Law School, from 1927 to 1937.http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~longkin/Da ...

, lawyer and university president *

George Duke Humphrey George Duke Humphrey (August 30, 1897 – September 10, 1973) was the President of the Mississippi State College (now Mississippi State University) from 1934 to 1945. He then became the president of the University of Wyoming from 1945 to 1964. ...

educator and university president *

Lewis Wade Jones Lewis Wade Jones (March 13, 1910September 1979) was a sociologist and teacher. He was born in Cuero, Texas, the son of Wade E. and Lucynthia McDade Jones. A member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, he received his AB degree from Fisk Universit ...

, sociologist *

Fred B. Kniffen Fred Bowerman Kniffen (January 18, 1900 – May 19, 1993) was an American geographer and distinguished professor in the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University for over 64 years. Kniffen had a background in anthropo ...

, geographer and anthropologist * Ruth Smith Lloyd, anatomist; 1938-1939 fellowship *

James LuValle James Ellis LuValle (November 10, 1912 – January 30, 1993) was an American athlete and scientist. He won the bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 1936 Summer Olympics, and was an accomplished chemist and founder of the Graduate Students Associa ...

, chemist and Olympic athlete; 1938-1939 fellowship *

Ira De Augustine Reid Ira De Augustine Reid (July 2, 1901 – August 15, 1968) was a prominent sociologist and writer who wrote extensively on the lives of black immigrants and communities in the United States. He was also influential in the field of educational sociolo ...

, sociologist * Charles Shannon, artist * Frank M. Snowden, Jr., historian, classicist, and diplomat *

Howard Swanson Howard Swanson (August 18, 1907 – November 12, 1978) was an American composer. Swanson studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and was then taught by Nadia Boulanger in Paris.Liner notes - American Recording Society LP, "Three Contempo ...

, composer; 1938-1939 fellowship * Joseph T. Taylor, sociologist and university dean

1939

May Justus May Justus (May 12, 1898 – November 7, 1989) was an American author of numerous children's books, almost all of which were set in Appalachia and reflect the traditional culture of her native East Tennessee. She also worked as a teacher and se ...

, writer, educator, and civil rights activist *

John Whitefield Kendrick John Whitefield Kendrick (July 27, 1917, Brooklyn – November 17, 2009, Arlington, Virginia) was a pioneer in productivity measurement and economic accounting.Lawrence D. Reddick Lawrence Dunbar Reddick (March 3, 1910 – August 2, 1995) was an African-American historian and professor who wrote the first biography of Martin Luther King Jr., strengthened major archives of African-American history resources at Atlanta Universi ...

, historian; returning fellow 1945 * Lillian Smith, writer; 1939-1940 fellowship * Hugh H. Smythe, sociologist, writer, and diplomat; 1939-1940 fellowship *

William Grant Still William Grant Still Jr. (May 11, 1895 – December 3, 1978) was an American composer of nearly two hundred works, including five symphonies, four ballets, nine operas, over thirty choral works, plus art songs, chamber music and works fo ...

, composer; 1939-1940 fellowship *

Melvin E. Thompson Melvin Ernest Thompson (May 1, 1903 – October 3, 1980) was an American educator and politician from Millen in the U.S. state of Georgia. Generally known as M.E. Thompson during his political career, he served as the 70th Governor of Georg ...

, politician and governor of Georgia *

Lorenzo Dow Turner Lorenzo Dow Turner (August 21, 1890 – February 10, 1972) was an African-American academic and linguist who did seminal research on the Gullah language of the Low Country of coastal South Carolina and Georgia. His studies included recordings of G ...

, sociolinguist; returning fellow 1940 and 1945

1940

Charles Alston Charles Henry Alston (November 28, 1907 – April 27, 1977) was an American painter, sculptor, illustrator, muralist and teacher who lived and worked in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem. Alston was active in the Harlem Renaissance; Als ...

, artist; 1940-1941 fellowship *

William Attaway William Alexander Attaway (November 19, 1911 – June 17, 1986) was an African-American novelist, short story writer, essayist, songwriter, playwright, and screenwriter. Biography Early life Attaway was born on November 19, 1911, in Greenvil ...

, writer * Paul P. Boswell, physician and politician *

Selma Burke Selma Hortense Burke (December 31, 1900 – August 29, 1995) was an American sculptor and a member of the Harlem Renaissance movement. Burke is best known for a bas relief portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt which may have been the model ...

, sculptor *

Robert L. Carter Robert Lee Carter (March 11, 1917 – January 3, 2012) was an American lawyer, civil rights activist and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Personal history and early life ...

, lawyer, civil rights activist, and US District Court judge *

Kenneth B. Clark Kenneth Bancroft Clark (July 24, 1914 – May 1, 2005) and Mamie Phipps Clark (April 18, 1917 – August 11, 1983) were American psychologists who as a married team conducted research among children and were active in the Civil Rights Movement. Th ...

, social psychologist * Mamie P. Clark, social psychologist; 1940-1942 fellowship *

Marion Vera Cuthbert Marion Vera Cuthbert (1896 – 1989) was an American writer and intellectual associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Early life Cuthbert was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. She received her bachelor's degree from Boston University in 1920. She s ...

, writer and college dean * Charles Twitchell Davis, literary critic; 1940-1941 fellowship *

Edwin Adams Davis Edwin Adams Davis (May 10, 1904 – April 24, 1994)Historical News and Notices

James A Ford, archaeologist * Henry Aaron Hill, chemist; 1940-1941 fellowship *

Jacob Lawrence Jacob Armstead Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000) was an American painter known for his portrayal of African-American historical subjects and contemporary life. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", although by his own ...

, painter; 1940-1942 fellowship * William J. Trent, Jr. economist and civil rights activist * James A. Washington, Jr., civil rights lawyer, university dean, and D.C. Superior Court Judge *

Mark Hanna Watkins Mark Hanna Watkins (November 23, 1903 – February 24, 1976) was an Afro-American linguist and anthropologist. He was born in Huntsville, Texas, the youngest of fourteen children of a Baptist minister. He obtained a Bachelor of Science from Prair ...

, linguist and anthropologist *

Eric Williams Eric Eustace Williams (25 September 1911 – 29 March 1981) was a Trinidad and Tobago politician who is regarded by some as the "Father of the Nation", having led the then British Trinidad and Tobago, British Colony of Trinidad and Tobago to m ...

, historian and first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago; returning fellow in 1942 * C. Vann Woodward, historian

1941

* Cleo W. Blackburn, social scientist and college president *

David Blackwell David Harold Blackwell (April 24, 1919 – July 8, 2010) was an American statistician and mathematician who made significant contributions to game theory, probability theory, information theory, and statistics. He is one of the eponyms of the ...

, mathematician *

Herman Branson Herman Russell Branson (August 14, 1914 – June 7, 1995) was an American physicist, chemist, best known for his research on the alpha helix protein structure, and was also the president of two colleges. He received a fellowship from the Rosenw ...

, physicist, chemist, and college president *

William Montague Cobb William Montague Cobb (1904–1990) was an American board-certified physician and a physical anthropologist. As the first African-American Ph.D in anthropology, and the only one until after the Korean War, his main focus in the anthropological ...

, physician and anthropologist *

Helen Octavia Dickens Helen Octavia Dickens (February 21, 1909 – December 2, 2001) was an American physician, medical and social activist, health equity advocate, researcher, health administrator, and health educator. She was the first African-American woman to be a ...

, physician and writer *

John Henry Faulk John Henry Faulk (August 21, 1913 – April 9, 1990) was an American storyteller and radio show host. His successful lawsuit against the entertainment industry helped to bring an end to the Hollywood blacklist. Early life John Henry Faulk wa ...

, storyteller and radio host; 1941-1942 fellowship * Cornelius Golightly, teacher, civil rights activist, and education administrator *

Adelaide M. Cromwell Adelaide McGuinn Cromwell (November 27, 1919 – June 8, 2019) was an American sociologist and professor emeritus at Boston University, where she co-founded the African Studies Center in 1959, and directed the graduate program in Afro-American st ...

, sociologist, historian, and preservationist; returning fellow 1944 *

Thomas C. Lea III Thomas Calloway Lea III (July 11, 1907 – January 29, 2001) was an American muralist, illustrator, artist, war correspondent, novelist, and historian. The bulk of his art and literary works were about Texas, north-central Mexico, and his Worl ...

, artist, writer, and historian *

Mabel Murphy Smythe-Haith Mabel Murphy Smythe-Haith (April 3, 1918 – February 7, 2006) was an American diplomat who served as Ambassador for the United States to Cameroon and later Equatorial Guinea, as well as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs ...

, economist, civil rights activist, and diplomat * Samuel Z. Westerfield, Jr., economist and diplomat * Bell Wiley, historian * Gordon Randolph Willey, archaeologist and anthropologist *

Margaret Just Butcher Margaret Just Butcher (April 28, 1913 - February 7, 2000) was an American educator and civil rights activist. Butcher worked as an English professor at Howard University and Federal City College. She also taught for years overseas for years. She ...

, literary scholar, writer, and civil rights activist; 1941-1942 fellowship

1942

* Thomas Bell, writer *

Sterling Allen Brown Sterling Allen Brown (May 1, 1901 – January 13, 1989) was an American professor, folklorist, poet, and literary critic. He chiefly studied black culture of the Southern United States and was a professor at Howard University for most of his caree ...

, folklorist, poet, and literary critic *

Joseph Delaney Joseph Henry Delaney (25 July 1945 – 16 August 2022) was an English author, known for his dark fantasy series ''Spook's''. He started his career as a teacher and wrote science fiction and fantasy novels for adults under the pseudonym J. K. H ...

, artist *

Owen Dodson Owen Vincent Dodson (November 28, 1914 – June 21, 1983) was an American poet, novelist, and playwright. He was one of the leading African-American poets of his time, associated with the generation of black poets following the Harlem Renaissance ...

, poet, novelist, and playwright * Wade Ellis, mathematician * * *

William Fontaine William Thomas Valerio Fontaine (born William Thomas Fontaine; December 2, 1909 – December 29, 1968) was an American philosopher. Teaching at the University of Pennsylvania from 1947 to 1967, he was an American Professor of philosophy i ...

, philosopher * * *

Margaret Morgan Lawrence Margaret Cornelia Morgan Lawrence (August 19, 1914 – December 4, 2019) was an American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, gaining those qualifications in 1948. Her work included clinical care, teaching, and research, particularly into the presenc ...

, psychiatrist and writer * *

Arthur S. Link Arthur Stanley Link (August 8, 1920 in New Market, Virginia – March 26, 1998 in Advance, North Carolina) was an American historian and educator, known as the leading authority on U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. Early life Born in New Market ...

, historian; returning fellow 1944 * Herman H. Long, social scientist and college president *

Jesse W. Markham Jesse William Markham (April 16, 1916 – June 21, 2009) was an American economist. Markham was best known for his work on antitrust policy, price theory and industrial organization. Markham was the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Adm ...

, economist * *

, photographer, musician, writer, and film director * Clarence F. Stephens, mathematician *

Charles Henry Thompson Charles Henry Thompson (19 July 1895 – 16 January 1980) was an American educational psychologist and the first African-American to earn a doctorate degree in educational psychology. He obtained a Master's degree and Ph.D at the University of C ...

, psychologist, writer, and civil rights legal theorist * Charles Henry Townes, physicist * Charles White, artist; 1942-1943 fellowship *

J. Ernest Wilkins Jr. Jesse Ernest Wilkins Jr. (November 27, 1923 – May 1, 2011) was an African American nuclear scientist, mechanical engineer and mathematician. A child prodigy, he attended the University of Chicago at the age of 13, becoming its youngest ever s ...

, nuclear scientist, mechanical engineer and mathematician

1943

Julien Binford Julien Binford (December 25, 1908 – September 12, 1997) was an Americans, American painting, painter. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and then in France. Settling in Powhatan County, Virginia, he was known for his paintings of the ru ...

, painter *

Mildred Blount Mildred Blount (born 1907) was an American milliner noted for her creations for celebrities and people in high society. Career Blount's interest in millinery grew out of her time working at Madame Clair's Dress and Hat Shop in New York City. She ...

, fashion designer * Marcus Bruce Christian, poet, writer, and folklorist * *

Woody Guthrie Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. He has inspired ...

, singer-songwriter *

Roi Ottley Vincent Lushington "Roi" Ottley (August 2, 1906 – October 2, 1960) was an American journalist and writer. Although largely forgotten today, he was among the most famous African American correspondents in the United States during the mid-20th cen ...

, journalist * * Thomas Sancton, novelist and journalist; returning fellow 1945, 1947 *

Hudson Strode Hudson Strode (October 31, 1892 – September 22, 1976) was an author and professor of creative writing at the University of Alabama. He taught at the University of Alabama from 1916 until his retirement in 1963. His creative writing classes ...

, writer * Julius H. Taylor, physicist *

Hale Woodruff Hale Aspacio Woodruff (August 26, 1900 – September 6, 1980) was an American artist known for his murals, paintings, and prints. Early life, family and education Woodruff was born in Cairo, Illinois, in on August 26, 1900. He grew up in a black ...

, artist; 1943-1944 fellowship

1944

Margaret Bush Wilson Margaret Bush Wilson (January 30, 1919 – August 11, 2009) was an American lawyer and Activism, activist. Wilson broke many barriers as an African-American woman throughout her professional career. Biography Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she ...

, lawyer and activist *

Esther Cooper Jackson Esther Victoria Cooper Jackson (August 21, 1917 – August 23, 2022) was an American civil rights activist and social worker. She worked with Shirley Graham Du Bois, W. E. B. Du Bois, Edward Strong, and Louis E. Burnham, and was one of the fou ...

, civil rights activist and social worker *

E. Franklin Frazier Edward Franklin Frazier (; September 24, 1894 – May 17, 1962), was an American sociologist and author, publishing as E. Franklin Frazier. His 1932 Ph.D. dissertation was published as a book titled ''The Negro Family in the United States'' (1 ...

, sociologist and writer *

Robert Gwathmey Robert Gwathmey (January 24, 1903 – September 21, 1988) was an American social realist painter. His wife was photographer Rosalie Gwathmey(September 15, 1908 – February 12, 2001) and his son was architect Charles Gwathmey (June 19, 1938 – ...

, artist * * *

Chester Himes Chester Bomar Himes (July 29, 1909 – November 12, 1984) was an American writer. His works, some of which have been filmed, include ''If He Hollers Let Him Go'', published in 1945, and the Harlem Detective series of novels for which he is best ...

, writer * * *

Rayford Logan Rayford Whittingham Logan (January 7, 1897 – November 4, 1982) was an African-American historian and Pan-African activist. He was best known for his study of post-Reconstruction America, a period he termed "the nadir of American race relations" ...

, historian *

Pauli Murray Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray (November 20, 1910 – July 1, 1985) was an American civil rights activist who became a lawyer, gender equality advocate, Episcopal priest, and author. Drawn to the ministry, in 1977 she became one of the first women ...

, lawyer, activist, and writer * *

Margaret Walker Margaret Walker (Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander by marriage; July 7, 1915 – November 30, 1998) was an American poet and writer. She was part of the African-American literary movement in Chicago, known as the Chicago Black Renaissance. H ...

, poet and writer

1945

* Conrad Albrizio, painter; 1945-1946 fellowship * * *

Janet Collins Janet Collins (March 7, 1917 – May 28, 2003) was an African American ballet dancer, choreographer, and teacher. She performed on Broadway, in films, and appeared frequently on television. She was among the pioneers of black ballet dancing, one o ...

, dancer and choreographer * *

Woody Crumbo Woodrow Wilson Crumbo (January 21, 1912—April 4, 1989) ( Potawatomi) was an artist, Native American flute player, and dancer who lived and worked mostly in the West of the United States. A transcript of his daughter's interview shows that Mr. ...

, artist, musician and dancer *

Dean Dixon Charles Dean Dixon (January 10, 1915November 3, 1976) was an American conductor. Career Dixon was born in the upper-Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem in New York City to parents who had earlier migrated from the Caribbean. He studied conducting ...

, conductor; 1945-1946 fellowship * *

, novelist and literary critic * Elizabeth Hardwick, novelist and literary critic * *

, jeweler *

Charles Sebree Charles Sebree (1914–1985) was an American painter and playwright best known for his involvement in Chicago's black arts scene of the 1930s and 1940s. Early life and education Sebree spent his early childhood in White City, located in eastern ...

, painter and playwright * Kenneth Spencer, opera singer and actor * Alma Stone Williams, pianist and music teacher

1946

* Evelyn Boyd, mathematician *

Nat Caldwell Nathan Green Caldwell (July 16, 1912 – February 11, 1985) was an American journalist who spent fifty years on the staff of the ''Nashville Tennessean''. He was a co-winner of the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1962. Early life and ...

, journalist *

, artist; 1946-1947 fellowship * * *

Clifton O. Dummett Clifton O. Dummett, Sr. (1919–2011) was a noted American dentist, dental professor and dean, and dental historian. Early life and education Dummett was born in Georgetown on May 20, 1919 in what was then British Guiana. He studied at Howard Uni ...

, dentist and dental historian *

Mark Fax Mark Oakland Fax (15 June 1911 – 2 January 1974) was an American composer and a professor of music. Child prodigy Born on June 15, 1911, in Baltimore, Maryland, Fax was a child prodigy. By age fourteen, Fax was employed as a theater organist p ...

, composer and musicologist * Natalie Leota Hinderas, pianist, composer and musicologist; returning fellow 1948 * *

John Tate Lanning John Tate Lanning (born 1903, died 15 August 1976, Durham, North Carolina) was a historian of Spanish America and held the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus position at Duke University. He was a major scholar of colonial Spanish American histor ...

, historian *

Walter McAfee Walter Samuel McAfee (September 2, 1914 – February 18, 1995) was an American scientist and astronomer, notable for participating in the world's first lunar radar echo experiments with Project Diana. Personal life McAfee was born in Ore Cit ...

, astronomer *

Willard Motley Willard Francis Motley (July 14, 1909 – March 4, 1965) was an American writer. Motley published a column in the African-American oriented ''Chicago Defender'' newspaper under the pen-name Bud Billiken. He also worked as a freelance writer, and ...

, writer * * Dave Masato Okada, sociologist *

, photographer *

Rose Piper Rose Theodora Piper (October 7, 1917 – May 11, 2005) was an American painter best known for her semi-abstract, blues-inspired paintings of the 1940s. In the 1950s, out of financial necessity, she became a textile designer. For nearly thirty yea ...

, painter and textile designer

1947

* William Artis, sculptor * Byron Burford, painter * Edward Burrows, historian and civil rights activist * Martin Dibner, writer *

Grace Towns Hamilton Grace Towns Hamilton (February 10, 1907 – June 17, 1992) was an American politician who was the first African-American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly. As executive director of the Atlanta Urban League from 1943 to 1960, Hamilt ...

, politician and social justice advocate * Robert E. Hayden, writer and U.S. Poet Laureate *

Blyden Jackson Blyden Jackson (October 12, 1910 – 2000) was a Black American academic, essayist, and activist. The grandson of slaves, born in the segregated South, Jackson was the first Black American to become a full professor at the University of North Car ...

, writer and literary critic *

Ulysses Kay Ulysses Simpson Kay (January 7, 1917 in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson, Arizona – May 20, 1995 in Englewood, New Jersey, Englewood, New Jersey) was an American composer. His music is mostly neoclassicism, neoclassical in style. Life and career Kay, the ...

, composer; 1947-1948 fellowship * Thomas Hal Phillips, novelist, actor and screenwriter * *

John Rhoden John W. Rhoden (March 13, 1918 - January 4, 2001) was an American sculptor from Birmingham, Alabama.

, sculptor * *

George C. Stoney George Cashel Stoney (July 1, 1916 – July 12, 2012) was an American documentary filmmaker, educator, and the "father of public-access television." Among his films were ''Palmour Street, A Study of Family Life'' (1949), ''All My Babies'' (19 ...

, documentary filmmaker *

Alonzo Smythe Yerby Alonzo Yerby (1921–1994) was an American physician and academic who served as the Associate Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. He previously served as New York City Hospitals Commissioner, as a department head and professor a ...

, physician and public health official

1948

James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; de ...

, novelist, playwright, poet and activist * Roscoe C. Brown, Jr., Tuskegee Airman, television and radio host, and college president * William James Cousins, sociologist * L’Tanya Griffin, fashion designer * * Elizabeth L. Sturz, poet and social worker * Samuel L. Myers, economist and university president *

Marion Perkins Marion Marche Perkins (1908 – December 17, 1961) was an American sculptor who taught and exhibited at Chicago's South Side Community Art Center and exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago. Perkins is widely considered an important artist of t ...

, sculptor *

Liston Pope Liston Corlando Pope (6 September 1909 — 15 April 1974) was an American clergyman, author, theological educator, and dean of Yale University Divinity School from 1949 to 1962. Early life Pope was born in Thomasville, North Carolina, the son of R ...

, pastor, theologian, and university dean *

Pearl Primus Pearl Eileen Primus (November 29, 1919 – October 29, 1994) was an American dancer, choreographer and anthropologist. Primus played an important role in the presentation of African dance to American audiences. Early in her career she saw the need ...

, dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist * *

Oscar W. Ritchie Oscar Washington Ritchie (February 16, 1909 – June 16, 1967) was the first African American professor at a predominantly White university in the state of Ohio. Background and education Ritchie's parents moved to Hallandale, Florida from the ...

, sociologist *

Haywood Rivers Haywood "Bill" Rivers (May 8, 1922 – December 27, 2001) was an African American contemporary artist and gallerist. Biography Haywood Rivers was born in Morven, North Carolina on May 8, 1922. He attended classes the Art Students League of New Y ...

, artist and gallerist * Samuel Reid Spencer, Jr., college president

References

External links

''New York Times,'' Jan. 15, 2010

{{Authority control Educational charities based in the United States Organizations established in 1917 History of education in the United States African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement African Americans and education Rosenwald schools

History

Notable fellowship recipients

1928

1929

1930

1931

1932

1933

1934

1935

1936

1937

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946

1947

1948

See also

References

Further reading

External links