As an all-black school, Monroe Elementary School contributed to one of five school desegregation cases that were combined into the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education. On May 17, 2004, a celebration at the school commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” The event also served as the dedication of the former school, now rehabilitated for use as a museum and National Park Service administrative office. The real heart of the historic landmark, however, lies in the interpretive exhibits throughout the school, chronicling the tragedies and victories of the civil rights movement in America. Sustainable design guidelines were integral in the rehabilitation of this 1920s era school building. Foremost was a new geothermal heating and cooling system, utilizing the adjacent playground for eighty-one geothermal bores to transfer and collect heat from the earth. Building reuse, sustainable and recycled content materials, natural daylight and ventilation, and urban redevelopment were all incorporated in a mutually beneficial blending of historically accurate and sustainable design. |
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