Photo credit: Courtesy of Aviva Kempner
REMEMBERING JULIAN BOND (January 14, 1940 – August 15, 2015)
In Washington DC, a bench remembering his legacy was recently dedicated.” The Ciesla Foundation
The below interview with Aviva Kempner was first published on Aug. 18th, 2015:
Picture yourself in the late 1880’s when most people lived in rural communities with all of the challenges that go with it. Along comes a man named Sears and a man named Roebuck – Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck to be exact. Together the railroad agent and the watch repairman partnered to form Sears, Roebuck and Co. and became famous catalog merchants. Enter Julius Rosenwald, an American businessman and philanthropist, son of clothier Samuel Rosenwald and Augusta Hammerslough Rosenwald, the Jewish immigrant couple from Germany who lived just a few blocks from the home of Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois while Lincoln was President. Like us, you’ve all heard of Sears and Roebuck, but who was Julius Rosenwald? Washington filmmaker Aviva Kempner explains in her new documentary simply named Rosenwald.
“I decided to make a film on Julius Rosenwald when I heard Julian Bond speak about his family’s connection to the businessman and philanthropist 12 years ago at the Hebrew Center on Martha’s Vineyard. I was immediately intrigued by Rosenwald’s story of being an enlightened businessman who wanted to repair the world. The son of a German immigrant peddler, Rosenwald had humble beginnings and left high school to follow in his family’s business. Taking a business risk, he bought into Sears and Roebuck with a relative and rose to become the President by age 45,” explains Kempner. Julian Bond was the great social activist and leader in the Civil Rights Movement who died just a few short days ago on August 15th. “I’m going to get a cake of Julian done because it was really his idea that I make the film,” she told Hollywood on the Potomac.
Synopsis
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 $62million in his lifetime.
The list of prominent alumni and educators who attended the Rosenwald Schools include Tony Award winning playwright George Wolfe, poet Maya Angelou, U.S. Representative John Lewis, Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post and the ancestors of Loretta Lynch (US Attorney General) and law professor Anita Hill. Skip Gates writes in Finding Oprah’s Roots: Finding Your Own that Oprah’s ancestor Amanda Bullocks became a trustee of the Buffalo Rosenwald School in Attala County, Mississippi.
Curiosity question: Why is it they never changed the name to Sears and Rosenwald? Kempner: “Well first of all, it was branded. It was already well known; and second of all, I don’t think a Jewish name would have worked very well back in that period. But it was mostly the branding. Sears already had a name and a catalog. You know, why change the name if it’s doing well? “
About the filmmaker as told to Hollywood on the Potomac: “As a child of a Holocaust survivor I had to hope. I was seeking answers. Quite frankly I flunked the Bar twice and I had to find another career so I went back to my love of film making. I always watched movies with my mother. It was all about Jews’ identity and wanting to make a film about Jews fighting the Nazis. I just started on this quest of making films about Jewish resistance and the underdog Jewish heroes. So the first film was about Fascism, something that mentally affected my family. And then the next film was about Hank Greenberg, my dad’s favorite baseball player. I grew up hearing about him as a young child so the day I heard he died I knew that had to be my next film. And that’s really about it. For the past 36 years, my goal has been to make documentaries about under known Jewish heroes that counter negative stereotypes.” Researching her own family roots in 1979 inspired her to become a filmmaker dedicated to making films that span the years prior to and during World War II, since they so scarred her family.
ROSENWALD opens August 28 at the Avalon Theatre in DC and Kempner will be hosting an audience Q & A’s on August 30. “We open here in two weeks, but it’s very sad because Julian was supposed to speak with me on the 30th,” Kempner added.
The Trailer:
