Cardozo Education Campus, formerly Cardozo Senior High School and Central High School, is a combined middle and high school at 13th and Clifton Street in northwest

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, United States, in the Columbia Heights neighborhood. Cardozo is operated by

District of Columbia Public Schools The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) is the local public school system for the District of Columbia, in the United States. It is distinct from the District of Columbia Public Charter Schools (DCPCS), which governs public charter ...

. The school is named after clergyman, politician, and educator

Francis Lewis Cardozo Francis Lewis Cardozo (February 1, 1836 – July 22, 1903) was an American clergyman, politician, and educator. When elected in South Carolina as Secretary of State in 1868, he was the first African American to hold a statewide office in the Uni ...

Central High School

The Advanced Grammar School for Boys was established in 1877 and then combined with a similar school for girls in 1882 to form Washington High School, the first high school in the city. In 1890, the High School was split into three, with one high school opened in the current Peabody Elementary School building on

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

and another in Georgetown in the Curtis Building. As a result, the Washington High School became known as Central High School. In 1916, the school moved from Seventh and O to Thirteenth and Clifton. Known locally as "the castle on the hill", Cardozo's iconic building was designed by architect William B. Ittner, a nationally renowned school building architect. The building was dedicated on February 15, 1917.

Cardozo Senior High School

Cardozo Senior High School was established in 1928. Originally located at Rhode Island Avenue and Ninth Street NW, it relocated to the Central High School building in 1950 and renamed. Cardozo was assigned for "colored" students in the segregated system and became one of three black high schools in DC. The U Street Metro station is partially named after this school, with "Cardozo" in the station's subtitle. Likewise, an alternative,

Urban Renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

-era name for the Columbia Heights neighborhood is ''Upper Cardozo'', and some of the public buildings in the area still bear this name. Until the 1954 opening of the all-black

Luther Jackson High School Luther Porter Jackson High School was a secondary school for Black students in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, located at the Annandale- Merrifield corridor. A part of Fairfax County Public Schools, it was the county's first grade 7-12 s ...

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...

,History
." Luther Jackson Middle School. Retrieved on June 4, 2016. Cardozo and several other DCPS schools, along with a school in

Manassas, Virginia Manassas (), formerly Manassas Junction, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. The population was 42,772 at the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of Prince William County, although the two are separate jurisdi ...

, enrolled black secondary school students from the

Fairfax County Public Schools The Fairfax County Public Schools system (FCPS) is a school division in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. It is a branch of the Fairfax County government which administers public schools in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax. FCPS's headqu ...

as that district did not yet operate secondary schools for blacks. During the 1970s and 1980s, Cardozo High School's marching band was one of the best in Washington, DC, and won several band competitions. The band was invited to participate in the

Rose Parade The Rose Parade, also known as the Tournament of Roses Parade (or simply the Tournament of Roses), is an annual parade held mostly along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, United States, on New Year's Day (or on Monday, January 2 if N ...

in 1981.

Renovation

In December 2011, work began to completely renovate Cardozo from the inside-out. Everything from exterior facade's crumbling masonry and shoddy window panes to the interior's dark, dingy hallways and outdated classroom spaces were replaced or restored to their original glory. Technology was added to classrooms, wood floors throughout the building were refinished, and the two courtyard spaces in the center of the school were turned into enclosed atrium spaces with the addition of glass skylights. The athletic facilities were improved and expanded as well, with a regulation-size gymnasium added onto the west side of the building. The swimming pool was also restored. In all, the renovation cost approximately $130 million and the school reopened for a new school year in August 2013. In addition to the physical changes to the building itself, the student body was increased with the addition of middle school students from the now-closed Shaw Middle School and the campus was renamed as Cardozo Education Campus.

Shootings

Four different shootings happened on the school campus: the first on January 23, 1969 (1 dead, no injuries); the second on January 6, 1995 (1 dead, no injuries); the third on April 2, 2003 (1 injured, no deaths); and the fourth on September 22, 2006 (1 injured, no deaths).

In popular culture

The video for the ''

Don't Copy That Floppy ''Don't Copy That Floppy'' was an anti-copyright infringement campaign run by the Software Publishers Association (SPA) beginning in 1992. The video for the campaign, starring M. E. Hart as "MC Double Def DP", was filmed at Cardozo High Sch ...

'' anti-software piracy campaign was shot at Cardozo. The school appears in Wale's "Chillin" music video. The school's marching band appears in the parade at the end of the movie,

D.C. Cab ''D.C. Cab'' (also known as ''Street Fleet'') is a 1983 American comedy film written and directed by Joel Schumacher, based on a story by Topper Carew and Schumacher, and starring Max Gail, Adam Baldwin, Mr. T, Charlie Barnett, Gary Busey, Mar ...

Notable alumni

Central High School * Beatrice Aitchison, mathematician * Caleb T. Bailey,

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

brigadier general * Sylvia Bernstein, civil rights activist * Selma Munter Borchardt (1895– 1968), educator, lawyer, labor leader and lobbyist * William G. Draper, US Air Force pilot *

George Dantzig George Bernard Dantzig (; November 8, 1914 – May 13, 2005) was an American mathematical scientist who made contributions to industrial engineering, operations research, computer science, economics, and statistics. Dantzig is known for his dev ...

, mathematician * Pat Foote, U.S. Army brigadier general *

Charles D. Griffin Admiral (United States), Admiral Charles Donald Griffin (January 12, 1906 – June 26, 1996) was a List of United States Navy four-star admirals, four-star admiral in the United States Navy who served as commander in chief of United States Naval Fo ...

, Navy admiral *

Herbert Haft Herbert H. Haft (August 24, 1920 – September 1, 2004) was an American businessman who was famous first for the development of discount stores in the drug store, bookstore, and auto part businesses in Washington, D.C., and later as a corpor ...

, founder of Dart Drug and Crown Books discount chains *

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation � ...

, FBI director * Yvonne Levy Kushner, actress * Robert B. Luckey, Marine Corps general *

Bruce Magruder Bruce Magruder (December 3, 1882 – July 23, 1953) was a career officer in the United States Army. A veteran of the Moro Rebellion, Pancho Villa Expedition, World War I, and World War II, he attained the rank of major general. Magruder was most ...

(1903), U.S. Army major general * John S. McCain Jr., Navy admiral * John F. O'Leary, U.S. government official * Lansdale Sasscer, U.S. Congressman *

John F. Shafroth Jr. John Franklin Shafroth Jr. (March 31, 1887 – September 1, 1967) was a highly decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of Vice Admiral. He distinguished himself as Commander of destroyer USS ''Terry'' during World War I and re ...

, U.S. Navy vice admiral *

Alfred Sao-ke Sze Alfred Sao-ke Sze (; 1877–1958) was a prominent Chinese politician and diplomat during the most turbulent period in modern Chinese history. Early life Sze was born on April 10, 1877. In 1892, Sze moved to Washington, D.C. with his father, wh ...

, Chinese politician and diplomat * Oliver Lyman Spaulding (1891), U.S. Army brigadier general *

Karl Truesdell Karl Truesdell (August 27, 1882 – July 16, 1955) was a career officer in the United States Army who attained the rank of major general and was a veteran of both World War I and World War II. He was most notable for his leadership assignments as ...

, U.S. Army major general * Arthur Cutts Willard, engineer and university president Cardozo Senior High * H. R. Crawford (1957), politician *

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

, musician * Petey Green, radio host * Moochie Norris, basketball player * James E. Mayo, museum director *

Conrad Tillard Conrad Bennette Tillard (born September 15, 1964) is an American Baptist minister, radio host, activist, politician, and author. Tillard was in his early years a prominent minister of the black nationalist organization the Nation of Islam (NOI). ...

(born 1964), politician, Baptist minister, radio host, author, and activist *

Maury Wills Maurice Morning Wills (October 2, 1932 – September 19, 2022) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) primarily for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1959 through 1966 and the latter part of ...

, baseball player

Feeder patterns

The following elementary schools feed into Cardozo: * Marie Reed Elementary School * Cleveland Elementary School * Garrison Elementary School * Raymond Education Campus * School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens * Seaton Elementary School * Ross Elementary School The following middle schools feed into Cardozo: * Raymond Education Campus * School Without Walls at Francis-Stevens

References

External links

* {{DC High Schools 1928 establishments in Washington, D.C. Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C. Educational institutions established in 1928 Gothic Revival architecture in Washington, D.C. Public high schools in Washington, D.C. School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. William B. Ittner buildings African-American history of Washington, D.C. District of Columbia Public Schools