This bill would create the Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park as a new unit of the National Park System. The Park would include a 40‑acre site in the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago that contains the former Sears merchandising complex (including the original Sears Administration Building, catalog building, power plant, Nichols Tower, and the Sears Sunken Garden) and three restored Rosenwald Schools: the San Domingo School (Sharptown, Maryland), the Saint George Rosenwald School (Saint George, South Carolina), and the Woodville Rosenwald School (Gloucester County, Virginia). The Secretary of the Interior must wait to establish the Park until enough land or interests in land are acquired to make a manageable unit and must publish that determination in the Federal Register.
The Secretary must prepare and publish a boundary map, administer the Park under laws that apply to National Park Service units, and may enter cooperative agreements with States, local governments, and public or private entities to support interpretation, preservation, and public access. The bill lists certain properties as "contributing resources" that will be associated with the Park but not transferred to the National Park Service (Saint George and Woodville schools). The San Domingo School may be acquired by the Secretary only by donation, purchase with donated funds, or exchange. The Secretary may acquire façade or easement interests in the Nichols Tower and may lease or acquire nearby space for Park administration and visitor services if needed.
The bill requires interpretation of Julius Rosenwald’s life and partnership with Booker T. Washington at related National Park Service sites (Lincoln Home NHS and Tuskegee Institute NHS). The Secretary must complete a general management plan within three fiscal years after funds are first provided. The bill also establishes the Rosenwald Schools National Network within the National Park Service. The Network will solicit participating sites, produce educational and promotional materials, conduct research, adopt a uniform symbol for the Network, make recommendations about additional sites, enter cooperative agreements, and may provide grants to Network elements.
No publicly available information on estimated federal cost. The bill authorizes the Secretary to use appropriated funds to mark, interpret, improve, restore, or provide technical assistance for properties subject to cooperative agreements and allows the Secretary to provide grants to Network elements. The bill does not include specific funding amounts in the text provided.
The bill describes its purposes as: to commemorate Julius Rosenwald’s life and legacy, to recognize the impact of the Rosenwald Schools (built 1912–1932 in 15 States and educating more than 600,000 African American children), to honor other parts of Rosenwald’s philanthropic legacy (including the Julius Rosenwald Fund and support for historically Black colleges and universities), to preserve representative Rosenwald School sites, to establish a Chicago headquarters and visitor center at or near the former Sears complex, and to create a National Park Service network to connect remaining Rosenwald Schools for broader public education and interpretation.
No publicly available information.