CNN —At least 24 Black deaf students who attended a segregated school on the grounds of Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, in the early 1950s never received their high school diplomas. Kendall was the only elementary school for the deaf in the city, but Black deaf students were not allowed to attend and were forced to go to other schools in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Black deaf students attended separate classes than their White peers on the school built on Gallaudet's campus in the early 1950s. While the students attended the school division for Black deaf students, McCaskill said, their “education was mostly focused on vocational studies, but not academic, and they were not prepared for college.”Later, when the classrooms at Kendall School became integrated, McCaskill says Black deaf students were still treated differently and never got their high school diplomas. The experience of the 24 Black deaf students who attended the Kendall School in the early 1950s is only a small part of the history of the Black deaf community, McCaskill said.

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Persons: “, ”, Carolyn McCaskill, Kendall, McCaskill, Brown, Kenneth Miller, Louise B, Miller, ” McCaskill Organizations: CNN, Gallaudet University, school’s, for Black Deaf Studies, Gallaudet, Kendall School, District of Columbia Board of Education, Court, District of Columbia, of Education Locations: Washington , DC, Pennsylvania, Maryland