The premiere showing of the documentary “Monuments with Blackboards” exploring the history of Rosenwald Schools in Virginia takes place at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Richmond. The museum is located at 428 N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard.
The film will feature interviews with alumni, community leaders, and experts and show the profound impact the Rosenwald School program had on generations of Black Virginians.
The film also highlights the efforts of many communities across the Commonwealth to ensure that the Rosenwald Schools’ legacy lives on through the preservation and restoration of the buildings that remain.
One of the schools that will be featured in the film is Woodville Rosenwald School at Ordinary in Gloucester. Dr. Wesley Wilson, the executive president/executive director of the Woodville Rosenwald School Foundation at the time of filming, will also be featured in the film. Dr. Wilson is still involved with the Woodville Rosenwald School Board.
Filming was done in December before the Woodville Rosenwald School exhibit opening. Jere Snyder and Tom Lassiter of Longleaf Production visited the Woodville Rosenwald School.
Woodville School was built in 1923 and is the only one of seven Rosenwald Schools constructed in Gloucester County that remains.
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 partnership of Julius Rosenwald, a Jewish-American clothier who became part-owner and president of Sears, Roebuck and Co., and the African-American leader, educator, and philanthropist Booker T. Washington, who was president of Tuskegee Institute.
Most of the Woodville School building that stands today is original, and everything has been done to the building to make it as close in appearance to what it looked like during the years it served as a school.
Funding for Monuments with Blackboards was provided by Cook Foundation and Virginia Humanities.
Monuments with Blackboards is screened as part of the Created Equal Film Series in honor of Grady W. Powell and in partnership with The Community Foundation for a greater Richmond.
This event is free, but registration is required. Those interested can register online at https://secure.virginiahistory.org/3260/3261.