NAACP Advocacy for Better Schools

Until 1932, public education for people of color in Arlington was limited to primary school. Hoffman-Boston Junior High School (later Hoffman-Boston Junior-Senior High School) opened that year, allowing Black Arlingtonians to pursue secondary school within the county.

However, Hoffman-Boston was not accredited by the state until the 1950s, and its facilities were not up to the standards of the county’s whites-only schools. Many Black students still commuted to Washington, D.C. to get a secondary education.

As early as 1941, the Arlington chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) brought pressure to bear on the county School Board for better facilities. And in 1947, the NAACP brought a suit against Arlington County Public Schools, asserting that the education provided to Black students was not up to the standards of the white schools. The suit would lead to new investment in the county’s Black schools.