Joel Elias Spingarn High School was a public high school located in the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, United States. Founded in 1952, the school was the last segregated high school built in Washington, D.C. The school closed in 2013, and in 2023 the site began redevelopment to become a

vocational school A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary education#List of tech ed skills, secondary or post-secondar ...

History

Spingarn High School opened in 1952, as a new and modern segregated high school for

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

students. It was the last segregated high school built in Washington, D.C., just two years before the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

ruled school segregation unconstitutional in ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

''. The school is named after

Joel Elias Spingarn Joel Elias Spingarn (May 17, 1875 – July 26, 1939) was an American educator, literary critic, civil rights activist, military intelligence officer, and horticulturalist. Biography Spingarn was born in New York City to an upper middle-class ...

(1875–1939) an American educator and literary critic who established the

Spingarn Medal The Spingarn Medal is awarded annually by the NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for an outstanding achievement by an African Americans, African American. The award was created in 1914 by Joel Elias Spingarn, ...

in 1913, awarded annually for outstanding achievement by an African American. The school's formal dedication ceremonies in December 1953 were attended by Spingarn's widow, Amy Spingarn, and by Spingarn Medal winners

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

and

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relativel ...

. The principal speaker at the dedication was

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

professor

John Hope Franklin John Hope Franklin (January 2, 1915 – March 25, 2009) was an American historian of the United States and former president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, the American Studies ...

. Purvis J. Wiliams was the first principal, serving until 1971. Under his leadership, Spingarn gained a reputation as one of the top black schools in the district. Spingarn's enrollment was around 1500 students, who were almost entirely black even after

desegregation Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws ...

. Woodson Junior High School students were housed in Spingarn High School from 1962 to 1963. Spingarn High School had one of D.C.'s most impressive basketball histories, producing well-known players such as

Elgin Baylor Elgin Gay Baylor ( ; September 16, 1934 – March 22, 2021) was an American professional basketball player, coach, and executive. He played 14 seasons as a forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lak ...

, Dave Bing and

Sherman Douglas Sherman Douglas (born September 15, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player from Syracuse University who played for the Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets and the Los Angeles Clippers from 1989 to 2 ...

. Spingarn won the City Title in 1961, 1980, 1985 and 2000. The school also played in nine District of Columbia Interscholastic Athletic Association (DCIAA) title games, winning for three consecutive years from 2000–2003.

Closure and redevelopment

Spingarn High School closed at the end of the 2012–13 school year due to low enrollment; that year, there were about 374 students. In May 2014, the school was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. In November 2023, Mayor

Muriel Bowser Muriel Elizabeth Bowser (born August 2, 1972) is an American politician who has served as the current mayor of the District of Columbia since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she previously represented th ...

announced that the city would renovate the Spingarn campus to house the D.C. Infrastructure Academy (DCIA), a

founded in 2018. The DC Infrastructure Academy (DCIA) is under the Department of Employment Services (DOES). The site is undergoing extensive repairs and construction, with a plan to reopen in late 2025.

Notable alumni

, NBA Hall of Fame basketball player and general manager * Dave Bing, NBA Hall of Fame basketball player, Mayor of Detroit, business owner * Warren Buck III, physics professor, first chancellor of University of Washington Bothell * John B. Catoe Jr., former general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority * Hope Clarke, actress, dancer, choreographer, and directorBobo, Marian Kenely
Spingarn SHS Notable Trail Blazers: Alumni Achievements.
Spingarn Alumni Association. * Robert Contee, retired D.C. police chief *

, professional basketball player * Michael Graham, professional basketball player * Mike Hinnant, professional football player * Ollie Johnson, basketball player * Earl Jones, professional basketball player * John Kinard, founding director of the Anacostia Museum, a Smithsonian Institution museum * Willie Royster, professional baseball player * Stan Washington, professional basketball player

References

{{Coord, 38, 53, 58.3, N, 76, 58, 15.3, W, display=title Educational institutions established in 1952 Educational institutions disestablished in 2013 Defunct schools in Washington, D.C. District of Columbia Public Schools African-American history of Washington, D.C. School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. 1952 establishments in Washington, D.C.