Andrew Feiler, photographer, author, and exhibition curator, will discuss his book A Better Life for Their Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, and the 4,978 Schools that Changed America and the accompanying exhibition of the same name. Over more than 25,000 miles of travel, Feiler photographed 105 surviving Rosenwald Schools and interviewed dozens of former students, teachers, preservationists, and community leaders to document this historic educational program. 

Born to Jewish immigrants, Julius Rosenwald rose to lead Sears, Roebuck & Company and turn it into the world’s largest retailer. Born into slavery, Booker T. Washington became the founding principal of Tuskegee Institute. In 1912, the two men launched an ambitious program to partner with Black communities across the segregated South to build public schools for African American children. The program ultimately built 4,978 schools across fifteen southern and border states. This watershed moment in the history of philanthropy, one of the earliest collaborations between Jews and African Americans, transformed education and helped shape the next generation of civil rights leaders.  

Feiler will share images and stories from his journey and the exhibition, on view at the Museum through the end of 2026. 

Copies of A Better Life for Their Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, and the 4,978 Schools that Changed America will be available for purchase, with a book signing following the program.  

Program Schedule 

6 pm Doors and Exhibition Open  
6:30 pm Talk  
7:30 pm Reception  
8 pm Close 

About Andrew Feiler 

Andrew Feiler is a photographer and author and fifth generation Georgian. Having grown up Jewish in Savannah, he has been shaped by the rich complexities of the American South. Feiler has long been active in civic life. He has helped create over a dozen community initiatives, serves on multiple not-for-profit boards, and is an active advisor to numerous elected officials and political candidates. His art is an extension of his civic values. 

Feiler was named “Book Photographer of the Year” by Prix de la Photographie Paris in 2022 for his book, A Better Life for Their Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, and the 4,978 Schools that Changed America. The book also won the Prix de la Photographie Paris 2022 gold medal for documentary book as well as the International Photography Awards 2022 first place for documentary book. It has been honored with a BarTur Photography Award, an Eric Hoffer Book Award, and a Book, Jacket, and Journal Award from the Association of University Presses. Photolucida named Feiler’s Rosenwald school images a 2020 Top 50 portfolio and Photoville selected them for the 2020 edition of The Fence, an outdoor exhibition displayed internationally in eleven cities. The solo exhibition of this work is now on tour. 

Feiler’s photographs have been instrumental in the campaign to create a new U.S. national historical park and inspired the composition of a symphony. His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, The Atlantic, L’Œil de la Photographie, Architect, Preservation, The Forward as well as on CBS This Morning, PBS,andNPR. His prints have been displayed in galleries and museums including solo exhibitions at such venues as the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, and International Civil Rights Center & Museum in Greensboro, NC. His photographs are in public and private collections including that of the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. 

Image courtesy of Andrew Feiler.