The Rosenwald School program was a collaboration between educator Booker T. Washington and Sears CEO Julius Rosenwald to improve educational opportunities for African American children in the rural South during the early 1900's. The program resulted in the construction of 4,977 schools across 15 southern states. New Hope Rosenwald School was constructed in 1919 at a cost of $1200, one-third of which was funded by the African American community. The one-teacher school remained open until 1958. One of twenty Rosenwald Schools built in Chambers County, Ala., New Hope School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 and received National Treasure Status in 2011.