Introduction
adams morgan is ever changing. Even its name is new.This area once was known simply as 18 th and Columbia,”referring to its major cross- roads and the center point of this Heritage Trail. Back in the 1920 s people also spoke of Lanier Heights when describing the streets just north of Columbia Road,and Meridian Hill for those to the south.But in the late 1950 s,urban planners and liberal activists came together to promote a new identity:Adams Morgan. This was no accident.The name change began with the community’s schools.Most of the area’s elementary schools were built before 1910 ,and by the late 1940 s had aged badly.As was the practice in Washington, white children received new school buildings when needed, and “colored” stu- dents inherited the old buildings.Consequently the colored schools were in terrible shape.Parents and teachers of both the colored Morgan School (named for city commissioner Thomas P.Morgan) and the white Adams School (named for President John Quincy Adams) began campaigning for bet- ter facilities.Families of both races opted to work together to improve education for all. When the Supreme Court ruled school segregation unconstitutional in 1954 ,President Eisenhower ordered DC schools to desegregate immediately as
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a model for the nation.Because black and white community members were already working together for better
President John Quincy Adams, far left ,and Thomas Morgan, left, builder of Oak Lawn.
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