Julius Rosenwald (1862–1932) was a U.S. clothier, manufacturer, business executive, and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck, and for the Rosenwald Fund which donated millions to support the education of African Americans and other philanthropic causes in the first half of the 20th century.

From 1917 to 1932 the building program of the Rosenwald Fund helped construct over 5,300 school buildings for African-Americans across the South. The Rosenwald program was administered in fifteen states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

The Rosenwald Plan called for African Americans to participate in the building of schools in their communities, including land acquisition, fund raising, school management, and curriculum. They had to show their desire for education by making gifts of money or labor, usually both. The program was projected not merely as a series of school houses, but as a community enterprise in cooperation between citizens and officials, white and black.

White citizens had to take an interest and contribute part of the money, since it was felt that white leadership was essential to the success of the program in the South. Usually land for the school was deeded to the state or county as the gift of a local white man.
 
Such was the situation for Hope School in Pomaria, which was built on land donated by the Hope Family - Mary Hope Hipp, James H. Hope and John Julius Hope.  The land deeded for the school was from their ancestral farm which dates back before the Revolutionary War.  The Hope School was built on Hope Station Road, next to St. Paul AME Church in 1925, three years after James H. Hope was elected Superintendent of Education in S.C.  Unfortunately, information is scarce about the efforts of blacks in Pomaria to raise the required funds.

The Hope School building had ceased being used as a school in 1954 and was converted into workspace for alumni and members of St. Paul.  The work to preserve Hope School was lead by Lillie Flemon Wise, along with members of the Hope School Alumni Committee, who lead the initial effort to raise funds, hoping one day they would be able to restore the old school building they attended at an early age.

In 2002, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named Rosenwald schools to its list of the 11 most endangered historic places in America.

In 2003 after the death of her sister Lillie, Tenetha Hall took over the Hope School project and formed a non-profit Committee to Restore Hope School.  This group included Bo-Nita Heller, Louis Flemon, Thomas Flemon, Margaret Heller, Vivian Heller, Sim Heller, Leola Glymph, Louise Spencer, Mary Rutherford, Washington Spencer and Freddie Houseal, and later, Ronald Hope and Jay Hope.

In 2007 the Hope School was named as to the National Register of Historic Places and through the efforts of Tenetha and Sen. Ronnie Cromer, Dist. No. 18 - Lexington, Newberry & Saluda Cos. and Rep. Walter McLeod, District 40 - Lexington & Newberry Cos., the Committee received a grant from the State Budget and Control Board of $100,000 for renovation.

What makes the Hope School even more historically significant is the connection with James H. Hope.  Mr. Hope was S.C.'s tenth State Superintendent of Education from 1922 to 1947, the longest serving superintendent in state history.  Mr. Hope spearheaded many projects to reduce school funding disparities between wealthy and poor counties and to expand the educational opportunities of all races.  Within a year after Hope took office, the S.C. General Assembly approved a major finance package aimed at addressing the funding disparities between wealthy and poorer counties.

During Hope's superintendency, high school diplomas were awarded to African American students for the first time, a mandatory attendance law was introduced, a teacher retirement system was created, and the twelfth grade was initiated.  During his tenure, South Carolinians, white and black, built about 500 Rosenwald schools. Many of them operated until desegregation in the early 1970s.  Across the state most of the Rosenwald Schools have been neglected and torn down, only about 30 remain in good condition to this day.  Many are being refurbished and used as Community Centers, which is the goal of the Hope School Committee.

Compared to the other 14 states, S.C., under the administration of James H. Hope, were near the top in every category of Rosenwald funding, including Total Buildings; Pupil Capacity; Teacher Capacity; Black Contributions; White Contributions; Tax Funds; Rosenwald Aid and Total Cost.

Toward the end of his term, great progress had been achieved for equalizing teachers' salaries regardless of race.  Hope established the Department of Education's first Division of Research and Information and the Division of Schoolhouse Planning, both which exist today. He also created a unified Teacher Education and Certification program that led to a significant increase in the number of certified teachers in S.C. During Hope's tenure, the vocational education system was enlarged to provide more vocational opportunities for high school students.

In conclusion the story of Hope School is about the hard work of local citizens, administrators, teachers, students and parents who strived to provide a decent education for African-American children despite many obstacles. The Committee to Restore Hope School is proud that we have made good progress and we look forward to the grand opening of Hope School Community Center, in 2009.