D.C. Street Named in Honor of Mrs. Louise B. Miller

From top left: Mrs. Miller’s children: Justin Miller, Gerald Miller, Carol Miller, and Kenneth Miller; Evon Black, Dr. Joseph Hill, and President Cordano. From front left: Virginia Ali, co-founder of Ben’s Chili Bowl, Councilmember Robert White, and Kari Cooke, director of the Mayor’s Office of Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing.

On September 4, 2025, about 100 people gathered at the corner of T Street NW, between 12th Street and 13th Street, NW as it was symbolically designated as Louise B. Miller Way. The new sign at the intersection is just steps away from the Miller family’s home.

The designation honors the late Mrs. Louise B. Miller, who fought for years for educational justice for Black Deaf children during segregation. Mrs. Miller was the mother of three Black Deaf sons and a hearing daughter. In the 1950s, Mrs. Miller led two lawsuits with other parents of Black Deaf children against the D.C. Board of Education for the right of Black Deaf children to have access to education close to home. At that time it was commonplace to send Black Deaf children in D.C. to segregated schools in Baltimore or beyond. The first lawsuit was not successful, but the parents persevered and they won the second lawsuit which established the Kendall School Division II on Gallaudet’s campus. The school operated for two years until Brown v. Board of Education dismantled segregation in schools across the nation.

Mrs. Miller’s long fight for justice and the 24 students and four teachers from Kendall School Division II are the heart of Gallaudet’s $23 million Necessity of Now (NOW) fundraising campaign. NOW will fund an outdoor learning space on campus called the Louise B. Miller Pathways and Gardens: A Legacy to Black Deaf Children, student scholarships, and research and programming at Gallaudet’s Center for Black Deaf Studies.

D.C. Councilmember Robert White (D) opened the ceremony with remarks about the important fight led by Mrs. Miller and the families of Black Deaf children. He emphasized that it was one of the highlights of the civil rights movement in D.C.

Afterward, participants went to the Thurgood Marshall Center where the Miller siblings used to play basketball and participate in activities. The program included remarks given by Melissa Irby, Mrs. Miller’s granddaughter, President Roberta Cordano who spoke about the significance of Mrs. Miller’s fight for Black Deaf education, and Center for Black Deaf Studies Director Dr. Joseph Hill, G-’04 & PhD ’11, and Associate Director Evon Black, ’87 & G-’96, who highlighted how Black Deaf resilience continues to make a lasting impact on the Black Deaf community.

Check out news coverage from The Washington Informer.