TAMPA, Fla. — Nearly a year ago, I wrote an in-depth story on how Rosenwald schools educated a generation of Black students in the South during segregation.
There were efforts to restore one of those schools in a town about an hour and a half north of Tampa called Okahumpka.
Well, it turns out that the organization that’s restoring the school that opened in 1929 said they’ve hit a roadblock.
“Well, when I was growing up here, until 1968, it was a segregated society,” said retired FBI agent Charles Fields in an interview with me back in September of 2022.
Fields told me about the Okahumpka Rosenwald School's role in his education and what led to his success.
“It’s important to know the history of these schools and help save and restore these schools,” said Fields.
There were more than 5,000 Rosenwald schools built during segregation. One hundred twenty of those schools were constructed here in Florida, and 23 are still standing.
The schools were created by Booker T. Washington, who served as an adviser to several presidents, and Julius Rosenwald, president and CEO of the Sears Roebuck company.
“Being Jewish American back in the 1920s and he felt that the Black communities of that day were equally as oppressed,” said Chip D’Amico with the Okahumpka Community Club.
They’re in phase one of the project, which includes structural repair for the historic school building. In 2020, D’Amico said they received an estimated $70,000 to complete this phase.
However, they’ve hit a roadblock. Out of the 2,000 bid requests they sent to contractors in central Florida, they only received two bids.
“And the two bids we got were 200% and 400% above the estimated cost,” said D’Amico.
To cut costs, they’ve even tried to do the repairs themselves, but because they received a grant from the state, D’Amico said their contract says they must work with a professional contractor.
“We were trying to save about $30,000 from the low bid by doing the work ourselves, but we only got part way, and we’re told we can’t do it,” said D’Amico.
They’ve set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for the restoration project.
“What we are really in desperate need of, at this point, I’m feeling, is licensed contractors or building suppliers that are sympathetic to our cause,” said D’Amico.
If you're a contractor and would like to reach out, here's their email address: OkahumpkaCommunityClubInc@gmail.com
