Born to Jewish immigrants, Julius Rosenwald rose to lead
Sears, Roebuck & Company and turn it into the world's largest
retailer. Born into slavery, Booker T. Washington became the founding
principal of Tuskegee Institute. In 1912 the two men launched an ambitious
program to partner with black communities across the segregated South in
building public schools for African American children. This watershed
moment in the history of philanthropy -- one of the earliest collaborations
between Jews and African Americans -- drove dramatic improvement in African
American educational attainment and educated the generation who became the
leaders and foot soldiers of the civil rights movement.
Andrew Feiler is a fifth generation Georgian. Having grown up
Jewish in Savannah, he has been shaped by the rich complexities of the American
South. Andrew has long been active in
civic life. He has helped create over a dozen community initiatives, serves on
multiple not-for-profit boards, and is an active advisor to numerous elected
officials and political candidates. His art is an extension of his civic
values.
Feiler’s photographs have been featured in the Wall
Street Journal, Smithsonian, Architect, Preservation, The Forward as well
as on CBS This Morning and NPR. His work has been displayed in
galleries and museums including solo exhibitions at such venues as the National
Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, National Center for Civil
and Human Rights in Atlanta, and International Civil Rights Center & Museum
in Greensboro, NC. More of his work can be seen at andrewfeiler.com.