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“Rosenwald” is a documentary about how Chicago philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, the son of an immigrant peddler who rose to head Sears, partnered with Booker T. Washington to build 5,400 Southern schools in African-American communities in the early 1900s during the Jim Crow era.
Aviva Kempner’s “Rosenwald” is the incredible story of Julius Rosenwald, who never finished high school, but rose to become the President of Sears. Influenced by the writings of the educator Booker T. Washington, this Jewish philanthropist joined forces with African-American communities during the Jim Crow South to build over 5,300 schools during the early part of the 20th century.
Inspired by the Jewish ideals of tzedakah (charity) and tikkun olam (repairing the world), and a deep concern over racial inequality in America, Julius Rosenwald used his wealth to become one of America’s most effective philanthropists. Because of his modesty, Rosenwald’s philanthropy and social activism are not well known today. He gave away $62 million in his lifetime.
The filmmaker, Aviva Kempner, gained her reputation as an investigator and a jongleur of non-stereotypical images of Jews in history. In a world where Jewish community indeed is wildly represented as brilliant, extremely powerful yet detached from the others, “Rosenwald” looks refreshing and even a life-changing experience for a soul striving to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” What starts as a joyful and fascinating never-old American dream story of one of the business celestials, becomes a tale of a spiritual journey in a real world.
The film is distinctly structured in three parts. The first one tells the story of businessman Julius Rosenwald’s upbringing. Followed by the enthusiastic comments of the historians, human rights activists and his descendants, it generously repleted with both historical and mischievous facts of his biography. Here, the audience learns how he started his apprenticeship at his uncle’s clothing firm in New York, that Abraham Lincoln was his family’s neighbor and client, that his father once told him how happy he was when he got a horse and didn’t have to travel across the country by feet anymore and, finally, how Sears once won the competition with Montgomery Ward by printing a smaller version of their catalogs, thus, housewives would store them on top of the Ward’s ones.
The second part unfolds Julius Rosenwald, JR – as he loved to be called, as a philanthropist. When his first 3 children were born, he said that he’d like to earn fifteen thousands dollars. Five – for his children, five – for the business and five – to give away. Once inspired by the Booker T. Washington writings and mentored by rabbi and social activist Emil Hirsch, he became a major donor for the Tuskegee Institute. After their first experience of building schools for African-American kids, Rosenwald came up with a revolutionary charity strategy. For every school to build he would donate one third, second third had to be raised within black communities and final part – within local white communities. That worked for more than five thousand schools across the country and led to an innumerable amount of new charity ventures that helped thousands of African-American people get started in their successful careers and improve their living conditions.
The third part of “Rosenwald” is designed by the smart filmmaker as an essential embodiment of the Julius Rosenwald motto – to speak less, to do more, and to stay modest. Here, Aviva Kemper pays tribute to some of the brightest recipients of the Rosenwald Fund. Marian Anderson, Woody Guthrie, Langston Hughes, Gordon Parks, Jacob Laurence – to name a few exceptional talents we cannot think of the 20th century without. What’s really amazing that every second of their screen time brings us back to Julius Rosenwald who had courage and a big heart to choose to be a shadow as an eternal satellite of the light.
Visually, “Rosenwald” is a very well-pronounced film filled with archive footage and photographs partially diluted with funny pieces of film classics matched to cover serious issues of inequality with childish nativity and simplicity. The combination of both the story and the lightness of the filmmaker’s “language” gives us a sweet aftertaste of empathy and compassion. It almost feels like videos on YouTube where a mother pig feeds a baby tiger or a lion plays with a puppy. We consider those adorable and get fascinated by how much love we can find even in wild nature. “Rosenwald” is a great example of finding love within one’s heart and giving it away genuinely and with great dignity. It is said in the movie: “Julius Rosenwald didn’t fall into the mold, thinking – this is not my problem, this is not my life, I see this suffering, I see this injustice but really – this is not my problem.” Maybe it’s time for us to wake up and open our hearts towards others too, and watching “Rosenwald” would be a great first step.
In select theaters September 18th
