The Newtown School, built here in 1921-1922,
served African American students during the
segregation era. Julius Rosenwald, president of
Sears, Roebuck and Co, collaborated with Booker
T. washington in a school-building campaign
beginning in 1912. The Rosenwald Fund, Incorporated in 1917, helped build more than 5,000
schools and supporting structures for African
Americans in the rural South by 1932. The Fund
contributed $1,000 toward the Newtown School
while local African Americans donated $872 and
Rockingham County gave $2,628. The three-teacher
school, the county's last solely for black students,
closed in 1965 and is the only remaining Rosenwald-funded school building in the county.
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