“Few people who were not right in the midst of the scenes can form any exact idea of the intense desire which the people of my race showed for education. It was a whole race trying to go to school. Few were too young, and none too old, to make the attempt to learn.”
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The First Six Schools
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Top photo: Rosenwald School in Alabama. n.d., Rybczynski.
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Washington kept a watchful eye on the construction of the first schools, intending to use these as a case study for expanding the program beyond the three counties he initially selected. Construction took place from fall of 1912 until summer of 1914. [37]
"Rosenwald particularly liked the photographs Washington sent of the first three schools...which he thought could inspire more communities to build such schools and attract other donors. 'There is no telling what the result might be if these photographs were given wide publicity with just the right kind of write-up,' he enthused." - Hoffschwelle [38] 
Loachapoka School in Alabama, the first Rosenwald School, completed in May 1913. Hoffschwelle.
Rosenwald School in Chehaw, AL, one of the first six Rosenwald Schools to be built, completed in 1914. Deutsch, You Need a Schoolhouse.
The success of the first six schools led to a remarkable partnership between Rosenwald, Washington, and the African-American community.
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 n.d. Waymarking.com.
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