Harvest Days starts Friday for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and continues through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 4-H Rural Life Center on Highway 903 outside Halifax. The school is located on the grounds of the center.
This year, photographs of all the 46 Rosenwald Schools built in Halifax County will be
on display
The pictures are the result of intensive research by local historian Florine Bell.
In addition, there will be a display about the Bricks School, located on Highway 301 outside of Enfield. The Bricks School, which opened in 1895, met the needs of secondary education for African-American students. It grew from a primary school to a junior college.
Visitors may also view informational videos of both the Allen Grove Rosenwald School and the Bricks School.
The Allen Grove Rosenwald School is one of several built in Halifax County by Cary Pittman, a prominent African-American farmer and building contractor. Several descendents of Pittman will be part of the program.
The Allen Grove School as well as other Rosenwald Schools that remain intact in Halifax County and throughout the South, serves as landmarks in the history of African-American education.
Julius Rosenwald, a philanthropist and the president of Sears Roebuck and Company, established the Rosenwald Fund in 1917, to improve the quality of public education for African-American children, in the rural south.
To encourage collaboration at the local level, the Rosenwald School Program required that local communities raise matching funds for school construction projects.
The Rosenwald School exhibit is one of the many events at Harvest Days.
The program is free and open to the public, and the planning committee encourages members of the community and former Rosenwald students or their family members to attend.
Please call 252-583-5161 or 252-583-3631 for more information.