Built in 1950 and formerly known as John Philip Sousa Junior High School, the public middle school was the site of an attempt at school integration. When 12 Black students were denied admission to the all-white school, the Bolling v. Sharpe case was filed by James Nabrit Jr., a professor at Howard University School of Law. The case was originally argued in 1952 and was eventually incorporated into Brown v. Board of Education.
The middle school is now a National Historic Landmark, but it is not open to the public.
