The current site name honors the school's founder, Jennie Dean, a charismatic ex-slave who believed in the value of vocational education for African-American youth of both sexes.

[1] Jennie Dean and other African Americans (with assistance of sympathetic whites) established the school as a private residential institution in 1893.

After World War II, northern Virginia's population increased and the NAACP followed victories improving salaries for black teachers and allowing black children to receive bus rides to segregated schools by litigating directly against segregated schools.

This led to several important court decisions against segregation in the 1950s and 1960s, including Brown v. Board of Education and a companion case from Virginia.

Class roll was: William Henry Bailey, Garnetta Cornelia Battle, Ruth Estelle Clarke, Edward Albert Chambers, Naomi Agusta Dean, Edith Mae Gaskins, Harry Wilson Hall, Virginia Kelley Kenny, Paul Emanuel Rier, Adrian Francais Robinson, Mary Viola Roberts, Kathleen Lewisha Thomas, Rosa James Thomas, Tasco Delany Thomas, Hazel Belle Voorhees, William Henry Waddell, George Shermy woodson, Roberta Josephine Waters and Mary Synora Waller.