Rosenwald High School

In 1913, Jewish philanthropist and Sears, Roebuck and Company chairman Julius Rosenwald joined African American rights activist Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute to support a project to design and operate schools for black children in the rural South. Rosenwald and his family established the Rosenwald Fund in 1917 for the well-being of mankind, and the rural African American school-building program was one of its largest programs. During the mid-1920s, the Bay County School Board and the local black community joined forces to use assistance from the fund to build a school in Shinetown, Panama City's black neighborhood. The fund required school boards to operate such schools and arrange matching funds, while black communities had to raise money or donate property and labor for construction. During the 1927-1928 budget year, the Bay County School Board and the local black community purchased land to build and operate a school under the Rosenwald program. Located at 819 E. 11th Street, the school was built according to Rosenwald Fund specifications and named Panama City High School. The building served Panama City's black community as an elementary and high school, and in 1939 graduated its first class of three students. By that year, it had been renamed in honor of Julius Rosenwald to avoid an identity conflict with the all-white Panama City High School. Enrollment reached 125 students by 1944. The school continued to grow and served grades 1 through 12 until a new junior-senior high school was built. Land for the new school was purchased in 1950, the building was dedicated in 1951, the school was relocated to this campus, and the Rosenwald name was transferred to it. African American students were educated on this site from 1952 to 1967. Many students graduated and went on to further their education. Desegregation of public schools in Bay County began in 1966. Rosenwald then served as a middle school for grades 6 through 8 from 1967 to 2009, and later became an alternative high school for grades 9 through 12. Rosenwald and its alumni continue to be a vital part of the community.

Panama City, Florida · United States