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ZEBULON - For the 18th year, Pike Historic Preservation and a big group of volunteers are getting ready to host the annual SlowExposures Photography Festival in Pike County—an event during the third weekend in September that attracts visitors from across the country to see photography that celebrates the rural South. This year, we are reaching out to our community to help us make one of our events even better—and solve a mystery.
On September 18 during “Slow Weekend” we are pleased to welcome author and photographer Andrew Feiler. He will talk about his book “A Better Life for Their Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, and the 4,978 Schools that Changed America.” Andrew traveled over 25,000 miles photographing 105 of the still-standing Rosenwald Schools that were built throughout the south in the early 20th century for the education of African-American children.
Together, Rosenwald (part owner and president of Sears, Roebuck) and Washington (educator, leader, and president of the Tuskegee Institute) created the project that addressed the chronic underfunding of schools for black students. The Rosenwald Fund required local communities to contribute matching funds in the form of donated land, funds and labor by African-American communities and that of white governing bodies who committed to funding the teachers for the schools.
Pike County had three Rosenwald Schools—modest one and two-room wooden buildings built in Concord (1929-30), Zebulon (1926-27), and one known as Central School. We don’t know where they were located—thus, the mystery. We think it would be great to find out something about the schools and include that as part of the presentation to honor our community’s collaboration.
To this end, we are asking folks who have any information about the story of any one of these three schools to help us by emailing us at slowexposures@gmail.com or call us at 770-841-9268. Thank you.
Pike Historic Preservation's mission is to preserve and protect the historic structures and sites which contribute to Pike County’s heritage and our unique sense of place.
Background Information:
Pike County Times received a call about a month ago asking for some historical information about the Rosenwald Schools. Kelly Carmichael from Spalding County is heading up an 18 member committee for a SPLOST project to rehabilitate and turn a 1929 Rosenwald school into a history center.
In her research about their school, she has found that there were 3 Rosenwald Schools in Pike County and began reaching out to someone who has some knowledge on this. Pike County Times referred her to Lynn Cunningham, and obviously there is a search going through Slow Exposures as well. If you have any information, please reach out to help solve this mystery!