Sears, Roebuck executive Julius Rosenwald was a benefactor of schools for rural African Americans in the South.  There were several Rosenwald schools in Virginia, including the Lipford School, built between Java and Riceville in Pittsylvania County, Virginia.

Lipford School
2 acres
2 teachers
Built 1924-1925
Total Cost $3,250
Black Contributions: $600
Public Contribution: $1,950
Rosenwald Contribution $700
Rosenwald Photograph? Yes
(Source: page 107, US Dept of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Rosenwald Schools in Virginia)

  In November 1941 the Lipford School, near Riceville, Virginia, was described as a one and one-half story frame building having an ordinary wood joisted roof covered with metal.  The entire building is supported by a concrete foundation.  The interior finish is of double wood joist floor with wood sheathed side walls, partition walls and ceiling.  The building is lighted with kerosene oil lamps and heated by stove with metal smoke pipes venting to brick chimneys built from the ground. (Source: Pittsylvania County School Board, Chatham, Virginia)

  Rosenwald Schools were built for the education of African-Americans in the early twentieth century. The need arose from the chronic underfunding of public education for African-American children in the South, who were required to attend segregated schools.

  Julius Rosenwald, part-owner and president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, founded The Rosenwald Fund in 1917, and contributed seed money for many of the schools and other charitable causes. Rosenwald required communities to commit public funds to the schools, as well as to contribute additional cash donations.  Millions of dollars were raised by African-American rural communities across the South to fund better education for their children. The Fund spent more than four million dollars to build 4,977 schools, 217 teachers' homes, and 163 shop buildings in 883 counties in 15 states, from Maryland to Texas.