# Spingarn High School

Joel Elias Spingarn High School was (1952-2013) a public high school located in the District of Columbia, USA. The school is named after Joel Elias Spingarn (1875–1939) an American educator and literary critic who established the Spingarn Medal in 1913, awarded annually for outstanding achievement by an African American.

## History

Spingarn High School opened in 1952, as a new and modern segregated high school for African American students. It was the last segregated high school built in Washington, DC, just two years before the U.S. Supreme Court ended school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education.
The formal dedication ceremonies in December 1953 were attended by Joel Spingarn's widow, Amy Spingarn, and by Spingarn Medal winners Paul Robeson and W. E. B. Du Bois. The principal speaker at the dedication was Howard University professor John Hope Franklin.
Dr. Purvis J. Wiliams was the first principal and served 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.
Woodson Junior High School students were housed in Spingarn High School from 1962 to 1963.

### Abandonment and Redevelopment of Campus

Spingarn High School closed at the end of the 2012-13 school year due to low enrollment which had dropped to 374 students that year.
In May 2014, the school was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
In November 2023, the Mayor of DC officially confirmed that the city would renovate the Spingarn campus, to become the new home of the DC Infrastructure Academy (DCIA), a vocational training school founded in 2018. The site is currently undergoing extensive repairs and construction, with a plan to reopen in late 2025. The DC Infrastructure Academy (DCIA) is under the District Department of Employment Services (DOES).

## Basketball and other Athletics

Spingarn High School had one of DC's most impressive basketball histories and has produced well-known players such as Elgin Baylor, Dave Bing and Sherman Douglas. Spingarn has played in more City Title games than all but one DC public school and won in 1961, 1980, 1985 and 2000. The school has also played in nine DCIAA title games and won consecutively for three years between 2000 and 2003.

## Notable alumni

* Elgin Baylor, NBA Hall of Fame basketball player and general manager who played 13 seasons as a forward for the Minneapolis / Los Angeles Lakers
* Dave Bing, NBA Hall of Fame basketball player, primarily for the Detroit Pistons from 1966 to 1975; Mayor of Detroit from 2009 to 2013; and business owner
* Warren Buck III, physics professor at Hampton University, who established the university's physics doctoral program; and 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 director
* Robert Contee, retired DC police chief
* Sherman Douglas, retired professional basketball player who played in the NBA for the Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets and Los Angeles Clippers from 1989 to 2001
* Michael Graham, retired professional basketball player who played on Georgetown University's 1984 national championship team
* Mike Hinnant, former NFL player, inducted into the Temple University Hall of Fame
* Ollie Johnson, retired basketball player who was an All-American at the University of San Francisco and a first round draft pick of the Boston Celtics
* Earl Jones, retired professional basketball player who was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers
* John Kinard, founding director of the Anacostia Museum, a Smithsonian Institution museum
* Clarence Musgrove, former All-American athlete in track and field, inducted into the Catholic University Hall of Fame
* Willie Royster, former professional baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles
* Stan Washington, retired NBA player for the Washington Bullets