Marie Reed’s story is rooted in the history of Washington, DC’s Adams Morgan neighborhood. In the early-to-mid 1900s, the area was served by two segregated schools: Wilson (for Black students) and Morgan (for white students) — the origin of the neighborhood’s name.
After the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision ended legal school segregation, community leaders formed the Adams Morgan Community Council to push for a fully integrated school that would also serve as a hub for the wider community.
Through the efforts of the Council and community leaders including Bishop Marie H. Reed, the Morgan School became The Morgan Community School in 1967, combining classroom instruction with adult education and neighborhood recreation programs.
In 1978, a new building opened on Champlain Street and was renamed Marie H. Reed Community Learning Center in honor of Bishop Reed’s vision. Over the following decades, the school introduced its now-signature Spanish/English dual-language program to serve a growing number of Spanish-speaking families.
The building was modernized in 2015–2018, adding a pool, health clinic, and community day-care space alongside updated classrooms — reflecting the school’s continued role as a true community school for Adams Morgan.