The Jewish Federation of Reading/Berks in partnership with Exeter Community Library announce the next author of the third season of Literatour Berks, a community-wide celebration with 14 events featuring authors, celebrities, and cultural influencers throughout Berks County. The public is invited to a virtual event with Andrew Feiler, author of A Better Life for Their Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, and the 4,978 Schools that Changed America on Tuesday, February 22 at 7 p.m. on Zoom.
A Better Life for their Children includes eighty-five duotone images that capture interiors and exteriors, schools restored and yet-to-be restored, and portraits of people with unique, compelling connections to these schools. Brief narratives written by Feiler accompany each photograph, telling the stories of Rosenwald schools’ connections to the Trail of Tears, the Great Migration, the Tuskegee Airmen, Brown v. Board of Education, embezzlement, murder, and more.
Beyond the photographic documentation, A Better Life for Their Children includes essays from three prominent voices. Congressman John Lewis, who attended a Rosenwald school in Alabama, provides an introduction; preservationist Jeanne Cyriaque has penned a history of the Rosenwald program; and Brent Leggs, director of African American Cultural Heritage at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has written a plea for preservation that serves as an afterword. Born to Jewish immigrants, Julius Rosenwald rose to lead Sears, Roebuck & Company and turn it into the world’s largest retailer. Born into slavery, Booker T. Washington became the founding principal of Tuskegee Institute. In 1912 the two men launched an ambitious program to partner with black communities across the segregated South to build public schools for African American children. This watershed moment in the history of philanthropy-one of the earliest collaborations between Jews and African Americans-drove dramatic improvement in African American educational attainment and fostered the generation who became the leaders and foot soldiers of the civil rights movement.
Of the original 4,978 Rosenwald schools built between 1917 and 1937 across fifteen southern and border states, only about 500 survive. While some have been repurposed and a handful remain active schools, many remain unrestored and at risk of collapse. To tell this story visually, Andrew Feiler drove more than twenty-five thousand miles, photographed 105 schools, and interviewed dozens of former students, teachers, preservationists, and community leaders in all fifteen of the program states.
Andrew Feiler, a fifth-generation Georgian, is an award-winning photographer whose work has been featured in museums, galleries, and magazines and is in a number of private collections. His photography is focused on the contemporary complexities of the American South. More of his photography can be seen at andrewfeiler.com.
The community is invited to attend this virtual event on Tuesday, February 22 at 7 p.m. for an evening with Andrew Feiler. The event is free and open to the public however reservations are required. To reserve a spot please visit www.readingjewishcommunity.org/home/literatour
Literatour Berks is a community program that will bring 14 authors in exciting programs from September 2021 to April 2022 to Berks County, in-person and virtually. Now in its third season, Literatour Berks is presented by Jewish Federation of Reading/Berks in partnership with Exeter Community Library. A complete list of authors and topics can be found at www.readingjewishcommunity.org/home/literatour Additional support in the form of community patrons is acknowledged and appreciated.
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