In 1950 a group of black students were denied admission to the then white school above (now a middle school in a predominantly African American neighborhood). At the time, black schools were severely overcrowded, while white schools had plenty of empty seats for students. Integration was proposed to make education more fair. A law professor at Howard University sued the DC school board president on behalf of one of the students, Spottswood Bolling, pictured to the left of the old entrance above. Bolling v Sharpe became part of the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v Board of Education. This park is affiliated with Brown v Board NHP in Kansas, and it is the only NPS affiliate site in DC.