• Photo: Ciesla Foundation, courtesy of University of Chicago Library
• Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington in 1915.

Filmmaker Aviva Kempner will be in Charlotte this weekend in support of her latest documentary, Rosenwald. The film relates the story of Sears president Julius Rosenwald and how he teamed with Booker T. Washington to build 5,300 schools for African-Americans during the Jim Crow era in the South. Among those who attended Rosenwald schools were poet Maya Angelou and Tony Award-winning playwright George Wolfe, while those who received Rosenwald grants included Langston Hughes, Gordon Parks, Ralph Ellison and Zora Neale Hurston.

• Photo: Bruce Guthrie
• Aviva Kempner

Rosenwald opens today at Ballantyne Village. Kempner, whose past credits include Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg (reviewed by CL here) and the award-winning The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, will hold Q&A sessions following the Saturday shows at 1:10 p.m. and 4 p.m. For ticket information, go here.