Join us for an evening program to celebrate our 98 year old Rosenwald School in Grier Heights and to reflect on Black & Jewish partnerships and leadership in the past and today. A viewing of the PBS 26-minute documentary on “Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity: Rosenwald Schools of NC,” will be followed by a panel discussion and community conversation on Black and Jewish leadership and partnerships in the past and today. Learn about the organizations that are doing this work today.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 7:00 to 9:00 pm
Grier Heights Community Center (built as a Rosenwald School in 1927), 3100 Leroy St, Charlotte, NC.
“In the early 1900s, North Carolina and other Southern states largely ignored their responsibility to provide education for rural Black children. Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity illustrates how educator Booker T. Washington and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald hatched a plan that broke Jim Crow’s grip on funding for Black schools. The results helped change the South and the nation, one student at a time.” – PBS North Carolina.
This program is sponsored by Crossroads Corporation for Affordable Housing and Community Development, Charlotte Black/Jewish Alliance, Levine Jewish Community Center, Stan Greenspon Holocaust and Social Justice Education Center at Queens University of Charlotte, Temple Beth El, and Temple Israel.
Panelists:
- Marvin Price was raised in Grier Heights (a historically African American neighborhood in Charlotte) from the age of three. He was educated at the Billingsville Rosenwald School through the ninth grade, and at Second Ward High School in Charlotte’s uptown Brooklyn neighborhood. Price owned a barbershop in Grier Heights for more than 40 years.
- Alan Johnathan is the Assistant Director of Temple Israel Religious School and Family Engagement for Temple Israel, the Conservative synagogue on Shalom Park. With over fifteen years of experience in education in secular and religious settings, Alan aims to spread understanding and unity through conversations. As a Jew of color, the son of a retired police detective, and 7 generations removed from his ancestors who were enslaved in Charlotte, Alan brings a unique insight into some of the more decisive topics in America today.
- Rabbi Judy Schindler will be moderating the program. She is a founder of the Charlotte Black/Jewish Alliance, the Sklut Professor of Jewish Studies and the Jewish Scholar-in-Residence of the Stan Greenspon Holocaust and Social Justice Education Center at Queens University of Charlotte (which she helped build as founding Director from 2016 to 2024). She was named Rabbi Emerita of Temple Beth El in Charlotte, North Carolina, after serving as Senior Rabbi from 2003-2016 and as Associate Rabbi from 1998-2003.
Photo: The Billingsville School. Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library. Courtesy of Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library.
