The Desegregation Process and Parker-Gray Middle School permanently closed
The city of Alexandria's public schools would have experienced the effects of the growing desegregation system in the fall of 1964. The 1954 Brown v. the Board of Education case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, was the catalyst for the decline of public schools. Thus, in 1959, the desegregation process would start. The court case concerned enrolling black and white students in the same school. This was a step in the right direction for African Americans equality rights, but it also resulted in the closure of several public schools that served the community. As a result, it also had an impact on Parker-Gray High School, which lost pupils and was downgraded to become a middle school. The decrease in enrollment of students was brought on by graduates entering the workforce, students looking for new high schools to transfer to, or (the main cause) kids moving to other Alexandria schools. Parker-Gray Middle School's doors would thus permanently close in 1979 as a result of the desegregation process that involved closing public schools.
Although the closure of this magnificent school—the first African American high school in Alexandria—is tragic, there is one positive aspect of the situation. According to the Brown v. Board of Education, “Brown v. Board of Education was one of cornerstones of civil rights movement, and helped establish the precedent that “separate-but-equal education and other services were not, in fact, equal at all.” The "Voting Rights Act of 1965" and the "Fair Housing Act of 1968" were also a result of it. Even though the school is no longer exists, a historical highway marker commemorates the institution and its accomplishments.