PROJECTS

Rosenwald Schools

Equal or even adequate education for black Americans did not always exist in the form of schools, schoolbooks and teacher training. Under the Rosenwald school project, 70 of the 464 Texas Rosenwald schools were built in East Texas, with 23 being constructed in Cass County. Most Rosenwald schools were closed in the 1950s after desegregation. The schools are listed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2002.

One surviving Rosenwald school is located in Cass County near Linden. Pleasant Hill was built in the 1926-27 school year on land that was donated by Quitman Warren, a member of one of the area's pioneer black families. The school building is now owned by the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.