A part of North Carolina's past, a piece of black history
Eden NC Sunshine School
The Sunshine Schools, one of the oldest segregated schoolhouses in North Carolina, will be restored and repurposed as an inclusive community space to preserve a significant piece of American history and share the stories of its former students.
Our Mission
The Hampton Historical Foundation's goal is to restore the historical Sunshine (Rosenwald) School into a museum and preserve a piece of American History. The museum hopes to inspire people to learn about the struggles and educational progress from slavery to desegregation. The Foundation also plans to do vital time sensitive outreach to the remaining alumni and document their stories of attending the Sunshine School. The Sunshine School will serve as a museum providing a glimpse into the visual and oral stories of former students.
The Sunshine School is one of 5357 segregated schools built in the South from 1912-1932 through the philanthropy effort of Julius Rosenwald in collaboration with the educator Dr. Booker T. Washington, but the majority of the funds were pulled together from poor black community members who recognized education as a path to a brighter future for the next generation. Today, no more than 12 percent of Rosenwald schools are estimated to remain standing. The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Rosenwald schools to its list of American 11 most Endangered Historic Places.