Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2014
Abstract
During the period after the United States’ Civil War, numerous wealthy, northern philanthropists turned their attention to the plight of Southern African Americans’ health care, social services, social equity, and education. As time passed, these philanthropists explored Southern African Americans’ well-being with the purpose of helping all poor and disadvantaged peoples. In the early-twentieth century, the General Education Board (GEB) and the Julius Rosenwald Fund, two foundations particularly active toward meeting these ends, frequently worked on similar projects and, from time to time, even funded one another’s projects. Their boards of directors sometimes overlapped, and many, if not all the major foundations’ directors of the time, knew each other or at least knew of each other. Therefore, it is not surprising their philosophies of giving are, with few exceptions, quite similar. In fact, although Julius Rosenwald had already been a philanthropist for several years when he founded the Julius Rosenwald Fund, he drew his inspiration for the foundation’s organization and operation from the General Education Board 1 founded by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. on behalf of his father, John D. Rockefeller, Sr. 2 During this same time, such foundations as the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching existed with similar goals. In this paper, I focus on the General Education Board’s influence on education analyzing its strengths and weaknesses and identifying lessons contemporary educators might do well to learn from the GEB’s practices, outcomes, and use of political and economic power.
Recommended Citation
Tevis, M. M. (2014). Philanthropy at Its Best: The General Education Board's Contributions to Education, 1902–1964. Journal of Philosophy & History of Education, 64(1), 63-72.
First Page
63
Last Page
72
Publication Title
Journal of Philosophy & History of Education
Comments
Copyright © 2014 Society of Philosophy and History of Education. Posted with permission.