The Arlington County government and school systems have dedicated the “Stratford Commemorative Trail,” which describes the events leading up to the integration of what was then Stratford Junior High School in 1959.
The trail also looks at efforts to integrate schools at the local, state and federal levels.
The trail consists of four free-standing interpretive panels, plus a wall-mounted panel located outside what is now Dorothy Hamm Middle School. The trail itself is designed to simulate the original path taken by four students – Gloria Thompson, Ronald Deskins, Lance Newman and Michael Jones – who integrated the previously all-white school under court order on Feb. 2, 1959.