New Jewish-American Hall of Fame Medal

The Jewish-American Hall of Fame is issuing a medal honoring Julius Rosenwald to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month in May. The renaissance-style, high-relief medals depict Rosenwald alongside his friend and associate Booker T. Washington. The medal is the 56th issue in the series.

Rosenwald & Washington

Julius Rosenwald was born in 1862 in Springfield, Illinois. When he was 16, Rosenwald apprenticed under his uncles to learn the clothing trade. He later started a clothing manufacturing company with his younger brother. In 1895 he became a part-owner of Sears, Roebuck & Co., and in 1908 he became president of the company. In 1924 Rosenwald resigned as president to devote more of his time to philanthropy, though he remained a chairman of the company.

Booker T. Washington was born into slavery on April 5, 1856, in Franklin County, Virginia. From ages 10 to 12, he worked in a coal mine while attending school, and when he was 16, he entered Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia. In 1880 the Alabama State Legislature passed a bill to establish a school for black people in Macon County with a $2,000 annual appropriation, and Washington was named principal. Washington transformed the school, named the Tuskegee Institute, into a 2,000-acre, 83-building campus. Washington was also a prolific author, having written 40 books, including his 1901 autobiography Up From Slavery.

After Rosenwald read Up From Slavery in 1910, the two became friends and together built almost 5,000 schoolhouses in black communities across the South. Rosenwald covered half of the costs ($4.4 million), and the communities raised the rest. Graduates from the schools Rosenwald and Washington built include civil rights activists John Lewis and Maya Angelou.

The Jewish-American Hall of Fame Medal

The medal depicts Rosenwald and Washington side by side on the obverse, and on the reverse, two schoolchildren sit at desks. The reverse legend reads “ROSENWALD SCHOOLS / 4,978 / BUILT 1913-1937. Only 100 of the 3¹/₂-inch bronze medals will be produced, and each is hand-carved by former U.S. Mint Engraver Jim Licaretz and hand-patinated by medalist Eugene Daub. Both Licaretz and Daub have received an American Medal of the Year Award (Licaretz in 2023 and Daub in 2024). The Rosenwald-Washington medals cost $160 each. To order, call the Jewish-American Hall of Fame at 818-225-1348, and mention that you read about the medal on the Reading Room.