Andrew Feiler’s visually compelling narrative documents the generational impact of a unique challenge grant program. Created by Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington, it served to educate Black children denied access to public schools. Through extensive research and diligent outreach Feiler weaves the irrevocably impacted life stories, with the historical and political benchmarks of desegregation. The threads reach to current historical figures such as the revered late Congressman, John Robert Lewis, a Rosenwald school alum, who wrote the book foreword, to luminaries such as Gordon Parks, Maya Angelou and James Baldwin, Rosenwald Fellowship recipients. 

In this book group, Andrew Feiler discusses, among other things:

The concept awareness of creative choices  to layer the intention of your visual narrative

The power of education to change history

Art and activism

The role of the portrait as foreseen by Fredrick Douglass

The impact and intersection of civic involvement, economics, and politics

The austere beauty of WIlliam Christenberry and the agency of the land to tell its own story

When in Arkansas be sure to visit Toadsuck and Turkeyscratch

Referenced in the episode

For autographed/personalized books

“Rosenwald”, a film by Aviva Kempner

Isabel Wilkerson - The Warmth of Other Suns

NYTImes - Boston First Black Mayor - in 91 years! 

Tuskegee Airmen at the White House

Little Rock Nine

Black Education before Brown

Andrew Feiler Website | Instagram

Engage with J. Sybylla Smith  https://www.jsybyllasmith.com Instagram @jsybylla and Facebook @j.sybylla.smith