The Voting Rights Act is gone. Born: August 6, 1965. Died: April 29, 2026.

Legislation hundreds of thousands of Americans fought and some died for ensuring equal access to democracy on behalf of African Americans chipped away slowly then wiped away suddenly by a villainous cabal on the U.S. Supreme Court determined to use their unchecked power to return the nation to Jim Crow state-sanctioned inequality.

The death blow came on the heels and in comes in advance of unprecedented efforts by formerly Confederate states undertaking their own efforts to disenfranchise Black voters through gerrymandering. Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama.

Bigot-cum-governors, legislators, and judges advancing white power.

The descendants of successionists and their admirers attempting to re-establish racial hierarchy in America.

And a dictator overseeing it all.

The disenfranchisement campaign comes on the heels of successful efforts at the state and federal level to erase Black History. Suppress a people’s history, bury their art and literature, hide the stories and heroes, and those people become easier to suppress, then ultimately erase.

That is the condition of America in its 250^th year.

Leading the resistance are the literal and spiritual descendants of the nation’s freedom fighters. Of the abolitionists. The suffragists. The labor unionists. The lunch counter sit-in-ers and freedom riders.

Leading the resistance are historically Black colleges and universities.

‘Making And Saving History At HBCU’s’

HBCU’s have been outposts of Black art, culture, history, and learning since Reconstruction. Citadels constructed to stand resolute against unending waves of American racism.

HBCUs have been at the forefront of documenting and preserving African American history and art, often filling gaps left by other institutions. Nearly two-thirds of HBCUs house museums, art galleries, or archives.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. presents a powerful exhibition celebrating the legacy of historically Black colleges and universities during “At the Vanguard: Making and Saving History at HBCUs.” The presentation spotlights the groundbreaking collections from five HBCU museums and archives, bringing lesser-known stories to the National Mall before embarking on a national tour.

“At the Vanguard” displays over 100 objects telling a story of resilience, preservation, scholarship and more through the lens of the partnering HBCUs.

The project is the culmination of a five-year pilot initiative known as the HBCU History and Culture Access Consortium. Launched by the National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2021, partners of the consortium engage in activities and programming seeking to strengthen the role of HBCU museums and archives in America. Those partners are Clark Atlanta University, Florida A&M University, Jackson State University, Texas Southern University, and Tuskegee University.

Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama. America’s historic and contemporary heart of darkness for racial inequality.

Historic materials on view in the show include first editions of acclaimed writer Margaret Walker’s novel "Jubilee" and poetry collection "For My People” from Jackson State University, along with the typewriter she used to produce the revised “Jubilee” manuscript. As a professor of English at JSU in 1968, Walker founded the Institute for the Study of the History, Life, and Culture of Black People.

Visitors will see examples of Tuskegee Institute pottery showcasing student craftsmanship in the decorative arts. A rare highlight includes early scientific journals from Tuskegee researchers, a nod to the institution’s legacy in agricultural and medical sciences. One of the few known color videos of George Washington Carver, whose scientific ingenuity at Tuskegee revolutionized agricultural practices, will also be on display.

Archival photographs by HBCU-trained and/or staff photographers documenting student activism, campus life, and African American cultural movements are on display alongside a selection of artwork collected by HBCUs.

“At the Vanguard” can be seen in D.C. before heading on a tour of Consortium school campuses.

Rosenwald Schools

Beginning in 1912, Julius Rosenwald, the son of German Jewish immigrants, partnered with educator Booker T. Washington and thousands of Black communities across 15 Southern and border states in an effort to uplift educational opportunities for African American kids. Calling Southern schools for Black children in the first half of the 20^th century substandard to those for white children would be a gross insult to the word substandard. In many places, no effort was even made at providing public schools for African Americans.

Enter “Rosenwald Schools.”

Rosenwald helped to make Sears, Roebuck and Co. a retail powerhouse in the 20^th century. In late 1910, he offered to donate $25,000 to any American city that would contribute $75,000 independently to build a YMCA for African Americans, drawing the attention of Washington, the founder and principal of Tuskegee Institute.

Rosenwald joined Tuskegee’s board, and in August 1912 celebrated his 50^th birthday by making sizeable donations to a number of institutions, including Tuskegee. Washington asked if $2,800 could be used for a pilot project to build six schoolhouses nearby for African American children who had little or no access to education.

The pilot program took off and over the next two decades, 5,357 schools, teacher homes, and shop buildings were built in underserviced Black communities. The Rosenwald Schools required shared investment: local Black communities raised funds and contributed labor and land, while Rosenwald’s philanthropy provided major support and required local school boards to maintain the schools and pay teachers. This early model of public-private partnership reshaped educational opportunity across the South.

A short list of Rosenwald School graduates who reshaped American life includes John Lewis, Maya Angelou, Medgar Evars, and Eugene Robinson. The schools would produce more than 650,000 graduates.

“A Better Life For Their Children”

On view through January 2027 at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, about a mile from the National Museum of African American History and Culture, find “A Better Life for Their Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington and the 4,978 Schools that Changed America,” another examination of a critical aspect of American history, African American history, and minority education in America: the Rosenwald Schools.

The exhibition features 22 black-and-white photographs by Andrew Feiler, architectural drawings, newly created models by artist Mark Wittig, an introductory film, and a recreated period classroom.

“The Rosenwald Schools are one of the most overlooked stories of American architecture and moral imagination,” Feiler said in a press release.

The exhibit arrives as momentum grows for a larger preservation and public history push. On February 25, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) reintroduced the Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park Act. If passed, the bill would designate a site to be determined within the original 40-acre property that once made up the Sears merchandising complex in Chicago, or close to it, for a visitor center. Three Rosenwald Schools–the San Domingo School in Wicomico County, Maryland; the Saint George Rosenwald School in Saint George, South Carolina; and the Woodville Rosenwald School in Gloucester County, Virginia–are also included in the legislation.

The campaign grew out of heightened preservation urgency and public awareness, including the Rosenwald Schools being named endangered historic places. Only about 600 survive today. Some have been restored and serve as vibrant community and learning centers, but many are at risk of collapse. The recent Rosenwald documentary, has also helped build a wide base of organizational support.

“A National Historic Park ensures that this remarkable American story sits at the center of our national memory, not at its margins,” Dorothy Canter, president of the Rosenwald Park Campaign, said in a press release. “The Rosenwald Schools must be preserved for generations to come, not only as historical sites, but as examples of democracy in action. In the face of poverty and discrimination, communities united–contributing land, labor, materials and money–to secure education for their children and a better future.”

With a Republican House of Representatives, Senate, and Executive Branch committed to obliterating Black History and entrenching white supremacy, the bill has no chance of passing.

The Tuskegee Chapel

Black History, Black education, and Black excellence have always come together in Tuskegee, AL. After the original Tuskegee Chapel, designed by pioneering Black architect Robert R. Taylor, was destroyed by fire in 1957, its rebuilding became a profound act of collective effort and architectural translation.

Modernist architect Paul Rudolph conceived a bold new design, but it was African American architects Louis Fry, Sr. and Col. John Welch who translated Rudolph’s concrete vision into brick, integrating it into Tuskegee’s historic campus and drawing on the extraordinary skill of Tuskegee’s masonry students and alumni.

Constructed almost entirely by students using 1.2 million bricks made from Alabama clay, the original Taylor chapel embodied Tuskegee’s enduring pedagogy of “learning by doing.” It served not only as an architectural marvel, but as a site of dignity, worship, collective reflection and self-determination during the Jim Crow era.

Concurrent to “A Better Life for their Children,” the National Building Museum also presents “The Tuskegee Chapel: Paul Rudolph x Fry & Welch.” Key features of the exhibition include models of both Taylor’s original 1898 chapel and Rudolph’s redesign, architectural photography by Ezra Stoller, photographs by Chester Higgins from 1969 and 2024, a robotically-laid brick sculpture by Myles Sampson, digitized architectural drawings, large scale murals, and an interview with Major L. Holland, the last living member of the Fry & Welch design team.

The HBCU, Rosenwald, and Tuskegee exhibitions provide unique insights into American history, the nation’s track record of racial inequality since founding, and education’s central role in democracy and equality.

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