Late August of last year, a nonprofit organization raised $50,000 to renovate and restore one of the historic Rosenwald schools that represented a leap forward for Black Southerners who wanted to ensure an education for their children prior to integration.
The Sherman Line Development Corp. raised money to fix the Sherman Line School, located behind Sherman Missionary Baptist Church on the Pike-Amite county line west of Magnolia.
It’s one of the few Rosenwald schools still standing in Mississippi.
While falling short of their $100,000 goal, the organization still considers the $50,000 raised a success. It received $40,000 from The Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the rest from local donors.
Architect Steve Cox’s plan for the building said the current condition of the roof requires immediate action. It also said that the structure needs stabilizing, and he proposes the chimneys be taken down to below the roof and roof over the opening, considering they haven’t functioned in many years and money is tight.
Fortunately, the primary structural members such as the ceiling joists, roof joists and web bracing appears to be in good shape, which is a surprise considering the moisture intrusion taking place inside the building.
Jesse Harness, the chairman of the development corporation, said the nonprofit is planning fundraisers and is in the process of putting the money raised last year to use.
“The church had put a new roof on the building 30 or 40 years ago,” he said. “It’s been quite some time and more work needs to be done to it, so that’s one of the first things we are fixing. The second thing is the deteriorated steps.”
Rosenwald Schools were established around the 1920s. The Sherman Line School was built in 1928 for the education of Black youth in Pike and Amite counties.
It was through a partnership between Booker T. Washington, an educator and prominent African American leader, and Julius Rosenwald, a German-Jewish immigrant who accumulated his wealth as head of Sears, Roebuck & Co., that the schools were built in the first place. It was the only philanthropic effort in the early 20th century to concentrate on improving the learning environment of Black students in the South.
Even though the Rosenwald program did not solve the South’s schooling problems, it confronted the racism behind segregation by compelling Southern states to take more interest in education.
The Rosenwald Fund provided partial funding for the Sherman Line school, while local community leaders donated the land. Constructed at a cost of $3,800, the school’s original enrollment was 137 students, ages five to 20.
The school closed in 1932 and was purchased by the church.
Harness said church members did what they could to maintain the building, which was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 2016 and was designated a Mississippi landmark that same year.
Today, many Rosenwald schools have fallen into despair and require conservation. Out of the original 557 schools aided by the Rosenwald Fund in Mississippi, only 17 are left and many are in equally bad shape.
Harness said he hopes this year will see more successful fundraising year and allow the organization to make more repairs.
Donors included Pike National Bank, Southwest Distributors, Miss-Lou Realty, Dr. John Harness, Magnolia Electric Power, Clifton Van Cleave of Buffalo Services, Patricia A. Lenoir, Dr. Jesse Harness, Bessie B. Johnson, Walter Harness, Willie and Theresa Brady, Artis T. Butler, Kermit R. Harness Jr., Claude Harness, Tommy R. Harness, Robert E. Smith and James W. Covington.
“We also want to thank all of our local donors that donated last year,” he said.
