Conservation as Reparations

Abstract

The Julius Rosenwald Schools, built across the segregated American South, had generational impact. This narrative explores this educational initiative’s investment in rural Black communities, the design of Black schools by Black architects for Black communities, and a current conservation project as an act of generational repair and reparation. The Rosenwald Schools embody the resilience and self-determination of African American communities across the southern United States, in direct response to the institutional inequities of Jim Crow, as a way to empower future generations of students and leaders.