Mt. Nebo Elementary School The Mt. Nebo (Rosenwald) Elementary School was sited in the formerly segregated Prichard's Addition/Atkins Quarters in Monroe, Louisiana. The school was built in 1924. It was a large one room schoolhouse with interior movable divides initially educating children from the 1st to 8th grades. It opened in November, 1924 with 120 pupils seeking the opportunity of an education. Three teachers were assigned to Mt. Nebo by the Board of Education. The severe overcrowding was reduced a few years later when Mt. Nebo became a 1st to 4th grade elementary school. It continued to serve Monroe’s Black Community’s educational needs until it was closed in the 1960s when Federal law mandated integration. During the 1920s-1930s, 8 Rosenwald schools and 1 teacher’s home were built in Ouachita Parish, among which were Britton-Chambers, McHenry-Mineral Springs (Extant), Mt Nebo-Monroe, Sterlington-Swartz, and West Monroe. Rosenwald schools were the foundation of formal education for African Americans in Ouachita Parish.
Rosenwald Schools In 1911, Booker T. Washington, head of Tuskegee Institutein Alabama, asked Julius Rosenwald, a Jewish Philanthropist, to serve on the board of directors at Tuskegee. Their unique partnership led to the creation of the Rosenwald Fund (1917) to support the education of African American children in the South, where segregated schools severely suffered from inadequate facilities and books. The Rosenwald Fund’s school building program organized local collaboration between Blacks and Whites for the common good. The Fund gave matching grants and provided technical support. Local Communities raised funds together with public funds towards school construction. The Rosenwald Fund closed in 1948. It had facilitated the construction of over 4,977 schools in 15 southern states. 1/3 of all Black children attended a Rosenwald School. 395 Rosenwald schools were built in Louisiana. Erected 2024 by Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation, Mt. Nebo Playground Committee City of Monroe.
