Self-made millionaire Julius Rosenwald devoted his fortune as well as himself to others. His philanthropic principles speak volumes about integration for both Jewish and black Americans

Has there ever been a philanthropist who didn’t want his name immortalized in public, emblazoned on the buildings, institutions, and projects he funded? Apparently there has. And that’s why so few know his name: Julius Rosenwald. 

Rosenwald was a Jewish millionaire with a classic rags-to-riches story. He worked his way up from junior sales assistant, selling men’s suits in New York, to owner and manager of Sears Roebuck, which he grew into one of America’s largest department store chains. 

Rosenwald remains the 57th-richest man in U.S. history, somewhere between Benjamin Franklin and Bill Gates. Yet he saw wealth not as a primary goal but as a means to multiple ends, chief among them being assistance to victims of discrimination – regardless of race, creed, or color. His projects were extremely diverse, but most of his resources were directed toward the integration and welfare of Jews and Afro-Americans in the early 20th century. 

Neither intellectual nor radical, Rosenwald believed firmly in pragmatism and progress. As a result, much of his philanthropy concentrated on education, which he considered a springboard to economic security and racial equality for disadvantaged minorities. 

No other benefactor did as much to strengthen and expand educational opportunities among the blacks of his day. 

  Rosenwald founded a staggering 4,977 elementary schools as well as building 200 housing units for teachers. By the time he died in 1932, a third of all Afro-American students were enrolled in what were then admiringly known in outlying communities as “Rosenwald’s schools.”

 

 

From Catalogue to Customer 

Julius Rosenwald was born in Springfield, Illinois, in 1862. His German parents owned a tailoring business and needed him to work in the store rather than complete high school. At seventeen, he moved to New York to work for relatives who were also in garment manufacture and marketing. 

 As the sewing machine revolutionized this then Jewish-dominated industry, Rosenwald built himself an enviable network of young Jews from similar backgrounds who subsequently struck it rich. One was Henry Goldman, future partner in the Goldman Sachs investment firm – a connection that eventually made Rosenwald a multimillionaire. 

Rosenwald’s first independent venture, a clothing enterprise opened in New York with his brothers, soon went bankrupt. Julius moved on to Chicago, where he met the Nusbaum family and became engaged to Augusta, one of seven daughters. The couple married in 1890, and five years later Rosenwald and brother-in-law Aaron Nusbaum invested with Richard Sears, owner of America’s largest mail-order catalogue company. Rosenwald and Sears saw very much eye to eye and promptly bought Nusbaum out. Five years down the line, in 1908, Sears resigned as manager, leaving Rosenwald in command.