It's taken longer than anyone had planned or hoped, but Fisk Univeristy's online collections of the Rosenwald Schools that spanned 15 southern states is now available to the public. 

I wanted to place a Rosenwald school in Madison, since Texas was one of the states that received funding from Julius Rosenwald to build schools for African- American communities in rural areas of the state.  The Texas Historical Commission has resources for finding (and listing) schools in Texas, and other state historical commissions have similar resources for documenting the schools.

Luckily, many of the school buildings and their associated buildings are still standing across the south.  In Madison's case, I wanted to highlight the problems that develop over time and within a community when a historical resource isn't properly cared for and preserved.  I wanted to show how easily benign neglect- as apposed to outright racism- leads to a loss for a community's heritage.

And don't worry- I've got some instances of outright racism and bigotry affecting what gets preserved in communities.  And what gets lost in the process of purpsefully whitewashing history. 

See how Madison lost its opportunity to preserve their own Rosenwald school and the unintended consequences here.