Secretary Haaland Designates Five Affiliated Areas to Expand Storytelling at Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park

WASHINGTON - Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland today announced five current and former schools in Delaware, Virginia and the District of Columbia as affiliated areas of Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park, reflecting a more complete telling of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in 1954 outlawing segregation in public schools. The new areas join other affiliated locations of the historical park, which was redesignated by President Biden in 2022, in Topeka, Kansas, and Summerton, South Carolina, and are managed by the National Park Service.

"The impacts of Brown v. Board of Education were felt throughout our nation. With these new affiliated sites, we are truly telling the full story of this chapter in American history," said Secretary Haaland. "These new partnerships in Delaware, Virginia and D.C. will allow more visitors to learn about our fight for justice and equality in America."

"These affiliated areas are historically significant to our nation and mark physical connections to our not-so-distant past," said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. "Americans at these schools challenged the status quo and continued our nation's fight for equality - a constitutional right of all Americans, and a story vital to preserve for this and future generations."

The new affiliated areas represent separate legal cases stemming from schools that the Supreme Court consolidated under Brown v. Board of Education, issuing a single ruling which ushered in the desegregation of public schools across the country.

They are:

• Robert Russa Moton Museum in Farmville, Virginia (formerly Robert Russa Moton High School)
• Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington, Delaware (formerly Howard High School)
• Claymont Community Center in Claymont, Delaware (formerly Claymont High School)
• Hockessin Colored School #107 in Hockessin, Delaware
• The John Philip Sousa Middle School in the District of Columbia (formerly John Philip Sousa Junior High School)

This action by Secretary Haaland completes the final step in implementing the Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park Expansion and Redesignation Act of 2022, which also changed Brown v. Board National Historic Site to a national historical park.

The affiliated areas join park locations in Topeka, Kansas, and Summerton, South Carolina, which are managed by the National Park Service. The five new additions will stay in existing ownership and be managed by the local and private partners through formal agreements that will preserve the historic significance of the properties. Affiliated area status enables the National Park Service to share financial and technical expertise and collaborate in the interpretation of the historic events that ultimately led to the desegregation of public schools in America.

Interpretative programming is still being developed in cooperation with the five sites. Visitors should check with the management entity for each affiliated area for up-to-date operating information, including details about public access.

About the New Affiliated Areas of Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park

• The Robert Russa Moton Museum in Farmville, Virginia, will be managed by The Board of Trustees of the Robert Russa Moton Museum. Since 2001, the Moton Museum has operated from the former Robert Russa Moton High School, an all-Black school where student-led walkouts began in 1951.
• Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington, Delaware, formerly Howard High School, will be managed by New Castle County Vocational Technical School District. The roots of Howard High School date to 1867. For decades, the school was the only secondary school available to African American youth in the entire state of Delaware.
• Claymont Community Center in Claymont, Delaware, operating from the former Claymont High School, will be managed by the Brandywine Community Resource Council. In September 1952, a legal decision enabled 12 African American students to attend the school. These were the first African Americans to legally integrate in the 17 states that allowed public school segregation; it was one of the cornerstone cases cited in the Brown v. Board of Education decision that made segregation illegal in public schools and helped jump-start the Civil Rights Movement.
• Hockessin Colored School #107 in Hockessin, Delaware, will be managed by The Friends of Hockessin Colored School #107. The school was the center of the 1952 Delaware court case Bulah v. Gebhart.
• The John Philip Sousa Middle School, in Washington, D.C, will be managed by the Board of Education of the District of Columbia Public Schools. 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.

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