CAPE CHARLES, Va. (WAVY) — The Woodson Center, a community nonprofit organization, has launched a fundraising campaign to revive a 1920s-era historic schoolhouse in Cape Charles.
The Rosenwald school in Cape Charles is one of the few hundred schools still standing out of the original 5,000 built to educate African American children during legalized segregation.
The schools were built in the 1920s and 1930s by education reformer Booker T. Washington and Sears Roebuck magnate Julius Rosenwald.
Like many others, the brick, four-classroom schoolhouse closed in 1966, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
The Cape Charles Rosenwald School Restoration Initiative says they plan to restore the schoolhouse for the local community to provide a space for job training, entrepreneurs, and to host local events. The building will also host a classroom for the Eastern Shore Community College.
The fundraiser will be kicking off on Saturday, Oct. 23 from 7-8 p.m. For more information, visit the Rosenwald school fundraiser page.
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