This program is associated with A Better Life for Their
Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, and the 4,978 Schools that
Changed America – Photographs, Storytelling, and Original Curation by Andrew
Feiler. The exhibit will be open for viewing for 60 minutes prior to the
program.
Join Andrew Feiler for a moderated discussion with Frank
Brinkley and Charles Brinkley, Sr., educators, brothers, and former students of
the Cairo School, a Rosenwald School located in Sumner County, Tennessee. Feiler
will discuss his photography work, which is featured in the exhibit A Better
Life for Their Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, and the 4,978
Schools that Changed America and the book by the same name. The brothers
were students in the one-teacher school, headed by their father who served as
principal and sole teacher. Later, both Frank and Charles Sr. served on the
committee that spearheaded the renovation of the Cairo School and oversee its
use in its new life as a community center. The brothers have four sisters, all
of whom attended the Cairo school and went on to attend college.
Andrew Feiler is a
photographer, author, and fifth generation Georgian. Having grown up Jewish in
Savannah, he has been shaped by the
rich complexities of the American South.
Frank Brinkley earned two graduate degrees from
Tennessee State University and Tuskegee University, and taught high school math
and science in his local public schools.
Charles Brinkley, Sr., earned a master’s degree from Tennessee
Tech University, taught middle school science, and served as a middle school
principal.