As a result of the St. Mary’s County Board of Education’s policy on integration, Conrad Groves (age 15) and Elaine Groves (age 17) were denied entry into the all-white Great Mills High School. A lawsuit was filed, asking the Circuit Court to uphold the Supreme Court decision which directed all public schools to be desegregated. St. Mary’s County Board of Education won in the local Circuit Court, but an appeal was filed, and the decision was overturned. As a result, the Groves children enrolled into Great Mills High School in the fall of 1958, making Joan and Conrad the first African American students to attend there.