The African American Experience in Louisiana

There were also instances where
communities used their own resources
to construct schools based on
Rosenwald plans without receiving
actual funding from the foundation.
Such schools would not have been
included among the 393 enumerated
by the foundation. Though not
Rosenwald schools in this sense, they
are being categorized as Rosenwaldtype
schools for the purposes of this
context and are still significant for
communities’ use of the foundation’s
plans and ability to construct schools of this quality without the assistance Rosenwald funding.
An example of this is the Central Agricultural School of c. 1929, originally located in St. James
Parish (Figure 50). Records indicate that the Rosenwald foundation did allocate funds for this
school, but later required the school board to return them because they had not been distributed
to the community. 249 In this case it seems that the African American community, when denied
the promised funds, prevailed in building a Rosenwald plan school with their own resources.
While the Rosenwald school building program was extremely significant, this type of
community effort must be seen as equally so.
In order to be eligible for the National Register either Rosenwald or Rosenwald-type schools
need to retain enough integrity of design and materials to be easily recognizable to someone
from their historic period. While setting and location contribute greatly to the eligibility of
resources, because so few of these once numerous schools are known to survive, relocated
buildings may still be eligible. Ideally any new location and setting will be similar to the
original, but a different setting may be acceptable if other factors of integrity and the associated
history provide a strong justification for significance.
d) Public and Quasi-public (without church or Rosenwald affiliation)
1) Repurposed Buildings
Figure 50: Central Agricultural School, Donaldsonville, Ascension
Parish.
Most of the public schools for African Americans that opened following the Civil War occupied
existing buildings. The Freedman’s Bureau accepted space for schools most anywhere they
could find it. Schools for African Americans operated in former white schools, churches,
agricultural buildings and homes. Because buildings used by the Freedmen’s Bureau often
reverted to their former uses, it is difficult to identify such buildings except by oral tradition,
which is not always dependable. A rare example of a building documented to have been used by
the Freedmen’s Bureau is located on Euterpe Street in New Orleans. The building was a cotton
merchant’s home seized by the Union Army. How exactly the Freedmen’s Bureau used the
building is uncertain, but it is possible that it administered some of its education program from
here. The public school systems also continued the long standing practice of using residential
and other buildings for schools. The long-demolished two-story brick commissary building of
Shady Grove Plantation was reported to have served as the first school for African Americans in
249 Kathe Hambrick Jackson, interview by author, Donaldsonville, LA, September 30, 2011.
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