ELIZABETH CITY, N.C.
Elizabeth City State University has received a $350,000 grant to transform a Rosenwald school on campus into a center that tells the story of African American education in the region and state.
The school is raising money to match the National Endowment for the Humanities grant and eventually reach the $1.5 million needed to complete renovations on what would become the African American Research and Cultural Heritage Center, according to a news release from ECSU.
Restorations would include two historic buildings on campus.
The Rosenwald school was built in 1921 for the education of black children and as a place where the college’s students could practice teaching. It will become a center that tells the stories of students who attended there and other Rosenwald schools.
The Principal’s House, constructed in 1923 for the university’s first chief officer, Peter W. Moore, will be a museum focused on ECSU from its beginnings in 1891, the release said. The university was called Elizabeth City State Normal School at the time.
Sears, Roebuck and Co. CEO Julius Rosenwald financed construction of hundreds of schools for black citizens in the South.
Jeff Hampton, 252-491-5272, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com
