Austin,TX — More than 100 years ago when enslaved young Martin McDonald travelled with his parents and siblings to Texas from Tennessee, his family could not imagine a future where they would be free. Sophia Veal also traveled to the area with her family from Louisiana. She later met Martin in Bastrop County, married, and started a family. More than 50 years later, the McDonald family would donate a portion of the land purchased from their previous owners to build a school and community center dedicated to educating African Americans.

This November, the Hopewell Community Club, in collaboration with Bastrop County Cares, Bastrop Opera House, Bastrop Historical Society, and community supporters, will celebrate the school’s 100-year anniversary The event will take place Friday, November 4, through Sunday, November 6, on the grounds of the historic school and the Bastrop Opera House.

The Bastrop Opera House Friday event will be the screening of the Aviva Kempner film, “Rosenwald, the Remarkable Story of a Jewish Partnership with African American Communities.” Saturday will include an open house reception at the school with an evening live stage performance at the Bastrop Opera House. Sunday’s event, taking place at the Hopewell Primitive Baptist Church, will feature a celebration of the McDonald’s faith.

The Hopewell Rosenwald School – Cedar Creek began construction in 1921 and opened in 1922. The project launched with funds from the Rosenwald Rural School Building Program, established in 1917, for the educational advancement of African American children in the South. Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck and Co. of Chicago, partnered with Booker T. Washington to help realize the program’s mission of educating children of color. The school represents an important time in Texas’ history when legally mandated separate – but rarely equal – accommodations for African American students were the norm throughout the southern United States.

The Hopewell Community Club is under the fiscal umbrella of American Youthworks, a 501 (c)3 whose mission is to provide young people with opportunities to build careers and improve communities through education, training, and service. https://americanyouthworks.org/

For information on the event, contact [email protected] or call 512-585-6092.