BOOK/MEDIA REVIEWS

Abstract

Edwin Rogers Embree: The Julius Rosenwald Fund, Foundation Philanthropy and American Race Relations, by Alfred Perkins. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012, 363 pp., $39.95, hardcover.Bom in Polk County, Nebraska in 1883 and raised by his maternal grandfather in Kentucky, Edwin Rogers Embree's humble upbringing made him an unlikely candidate to become one of the most dynamic and powerful philanthropists of the 20th century. In Edwin Rogers Embree, Alfred Perkins vividly describes the unusual journey Embree embarked upon from his humble beginnings in Berea, Kentucky, to a distinguished undergraduate career at Yale, from there to the second most important officer in the Rockefeller Foundation and culminating in his role as the head of the Julius Rosenwald Foundation. Here, we have a portrait of a man who dedicated an enormous amount of time dedicating himself to the improvement of the field of race relations.During his formative years in Kentucky, young Edwin was exposed to unusually progressive views on race by his grandfather John G. Fee, the anti-slavery founder of Berea College. Despite being raised in a milieu characterized by a hotbed of racial discrimination off-campus, Embree took classes in a racially integrated environment, noting that: never occurred to me that it was anything out of the ordinary to study and recite with Negroes. Some of them were brighter than I was. Some of them duller. It all seemed very natural (p. 96). This unusually progressive setting, combined with the powerful personal influence of his free-thinking grandfather, shaped his own enlightened attitude on the improvement of race relations.Embree carried these views to his studies at Yale, where he graduated in 1906 with a degree in philosophy, exhibiting a special aptitude for the recently established field of sociology. He remained at Yale for a number of years after his graduation, and was eventually hired to run the office of alumni relations. It was at Yale where Embree made a number of significant contacts crucial to his future career as a leader in philanthropy. Indeed, his work at Yale eventually led him to the notice of John D. Rockefeller, who persuaded Embree to accept the post of Secretary of the Rockefeller Foundation.Perkins does an admirable job of weaving together the unique aspects of Embree's work at Rockefeller with specific actions that Embree undertakes to further his overarching goal of using social science methodologies to fund innovative social justice oriented projects. However, it became clear to Embree that the Rockefeller foundation was spiraling into a bastion of ultraconservatism, as it was neglecting to address the issues of social justice in which interested Embree. This then lead to his acceptance of the position at the Julius Rosenwald foundation, where Embree was able to translate his philanthropic interests into direct benefits, mostly related to increasing opportunities in education on behalf of African Americans. …