Just after the Civil War, the Freedmen’s Bureau, along with local African American churches, established the first schools in the south for the formerly enslaved. After Reconstruction ended, education for African Americans in the south was woefully underfunded.
Julius Rosenwald, a Jewish-American part owner of Sears Roebuck saw the need for more schools in the south and decided to help. The educator Booker T. Washington also stepped in to help. Mr. Rosenwald and Mr. Washington established the Rosenwald Fund. To receive the funds, local communities had to raise matching funds with public funding and/or labor to the schools and cash donations after constructions. White school boards had to agree to operate and maintain the schools. Millions of dollars from local communities came in to help.
As a result of the Rosenwald Funding, over 5,388 schools, 217 teacher homes and 163 shop buildings in 883 counties/parishes in 15 southern states were built. Over $70 million in funds were raised.
In Ouachita parish, eight Rosenwald schools were built. They were:
Britton
Chambers
McHenry
Mineral Springs
Mt. Nebo
Sterlington
Swartz
West Monroe
Out of all of these buildings, only the McHenry School building in Charmingdale remains.
You can read more about the Louisiana Rosenwald Schools here: https://www.lthp.org/rosenwald-schools/ .
Ouachita Parish History Tidbits 
This is quite interesting. I would love to learn more about this.
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There are lots of great websites out there about the history of the Rosenwald schools! It is such a fascinating part of history that not many people know about!
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