One to four-teacher wooden schoolhouses, financed partly by the Julius Rosenwald Fund, were symbols of self-help in black southerners’ crusade for schools during the early twentieth century.

From 1914 to 1932 the Rosenwald school-building program assisted African Americans in 883 counties of fifteen southern states. That assistance facilitated the construction of 4,977 rural schools (capacity 615–63); teacher cottages; and vocational shops costing $28, 408,520. The Rosenwald brand and its building program's matching grants sustained the widespread notion that the Fund alone paid for those schools. Grants covered approximately 15 percent of the total costs, however, while blacks contributed 17 percent, whites donated 4 percent, and state taxes provided 64 percent. African American communities also observed an annual “Rosenwald School Day” to raise money and pledge in-kind contributions. They sacrificed to build and maintain schools for their children.