Outdoor graduation photograph of the Randall Junior High School at 65 I Street SW, taken the month after the desegregation of the DC Public School System. Seated in the front row, 13th from left, is native Washingtonian and future musician Marvin Gaye.
This 1954 graduation photograph reflects the last year that these kinds of photographs would reflect a de jure segregated public school system in Washington, DC as a result of the decision in the Bolling v. Sharpe Supreme Court case.
Bolling v. Sharpe
In 1941, the John Philip Sousa Junior High School opened in Anacostia as a White-only school despite the efforts of a group of parents, the Consolidated Parents Group Inc., to be opened as an integrated school. In 1950, this group attempted to enroll 11 African American students to the school, including Spottswood Bolling, the named plaintiff in the case.
The Bolling v. Sharpe case was argued on the basis of the violation of due process guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment rather than the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment argument of the Brown v. Board of Education. The 14th Amendment only applied to the 48 states and would not have applied to the District. The decision for Bolling v. Sharpe and Brown v. Board of Education was made on the same day, May 17th, 1954. Spottswood Bolling was 15 years old and attending a different school when the case was decided in favor of him and all African American residents of the District.
Urban Renewal
The image can also help illustrate the story of urban renewal. Under the District of Columbia Redevelopment Act of 1950, the federal government established the Redevelopment Land Agency and the National Capital Planning Commission to design, monitor, and complete the redevelopment of Southwest DC. The building at 65 I Street SW opened in 1906 as the Francis L. Cardozo Elementary School in 1906, serving African American elementary students. It became Randall Junior High School in 1927 and served as a community hub throughout the 20th century. Today, it is on the Historic Register. While the neighborhood surrounding it changed dramatically due to urban renewal, the building can be seen today.
This image, courtesy Panoramic Images, is not part of the DC History Center's collection but is on view at the DC History Center’s THE BIG PICTURE exhibit.
Link to PDF: 1954 Junior High Graduating Class
DCPS Cornerstones Curricular Connections
Social Studies
Grade 11-U.S. History - Civil Rights Movement
Grade 12- DC History and Government - Project Soapbox
English Language Arts
Grade 3 ELA Washington, D.C. It's Right Outside My Door!
DCPS Standards
Social Studies
11.11.1: Explain the roots of the 1950s and 1960s Civil Rights movement in the legal struggles and largely interracial coalition building of the 1940s (e.g., Congress of Racial Equality and NAACP Legal Defense Fund).
12.DC.10.3: Explain how African American leaders resisted discrimination.
English Language Arts
W.3.7: Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
W.3.8: Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.
Common Core Standards
Literacy in History/Social Studies
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.7 Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
The DC History Center's Garnet W. Jex "Southwest Redevelopment" slide collection consists of 400 35mm slides, taken by painter Garnet W. Jex (1895-1979), of the redevelopment of Southwest Washington, 1957-1965. Some of the slides were part of a presentation called "The Bulldozer and the Rose," which Jex presented at various venues as a public service. The guide to the slide collection includes Jex's narrative, with detailed descriptions of the effect of urban renewal on the people and places of Southwest.
"Last of the hucksters", from horse-drawn watermelon wagon in Southwest Washington, near 3rd and H Streets SW. New public housing row houses in the background.
Demolition of row houses on G Street SW in the 400 block, 1958.
DC History Center video, 2020 (3 min.)
Washington History is the only scholarly publication devoted exclusively to the history of our nation’s capital. First published in 1989, the magazine replaced the Records of the Columbia Historical Society (1897-1989). Washington History is filled with scholarly articles edited for the general reader. It is written and edited by distinguished historians and journalists, offering a rich array of images as well as reviews and short features. The following articles support study of the issue the desegregation of the DC public school system (many from Washington History Vol. 16 No. 2, Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Brown and Bolling, 2004/2005), as well as urban renewal in Southwest.
"Old Southwest Remembered: The Photographs of Joseph Owen Curtis," by Paul S. Green and Shirley L. Green
Washington History, Vol. 1 No. 2, 1989.
"Public School Governance in the District of Columbia: A Timeline," by Mark David Richards
Washington History Vol. 16 No. 2, 2004/2005.
"Race, Education and the District of Columbia: The Meaning and Legacy of Bolling v. Sharpe," by Lisa A. Crooms
Washington History Vol. 16 No. 2, 2004/2005.
"Pushback: The White Community's Dissent from "Bolling", by Bell Clement
Washington History Vol. 16 No. 2, 2004/2005.
"Our Cause Is Marching on": Parent Activism, Browne Junior High School, and the Multiple Meanings of Equality in Post-War Washington," by Marya Annette McQuirter
Washington History Vol. 16 No. 2, 2004/2005.
"The Dual School System in the District of Columbia, 1862-1954: Origins, Problems, Protests," by Donald Roe
Washington History Vol. 16 No. 2, 2004/2005.
"The Showpiece of Our Nation": Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Desegregation of the District of Columbia," David A. Nichols
Washington History Vol. 16 No. 2, 2004/2005.
This 2007 nomination application offers an extensive history of both the physical building and the longstanding role of the school in the neighborhood and its culture.
DC Preservation League's DC Historic Sites, “Elizabeth G. Randall Junior High School (Cardozo School)
DC Historic Sites is based on the DC Inventory of Historic Sites, the city’s official list of properties deemed worthy of recognition and protection for their contribution to the cultural heritage of the nation’s capital. DC Historic Sites was developed by the DC Preservation League, Washington's citywide nonprofit advocate solely dedicated to the preservation, protection, and enhancement of the historic resources of our nation's capital.