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Dr. Ernest Everett Just (1883-1941) was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and graduated from South Carolina State College in 1899. He attended Dartmouth College and excelled academically, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1907.

Just moved to Washington in 1907 to teach English and rhetoric at Howard University. In 1909 he began teaching biology and became assistant professor of biology a year later. He would become a renowned biologist and zoologist, pioneering investigation in fertilization and cell division. In 1911 Just helped establish Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He wrote two books and more than sixty articles in his chosen fields. In 1915 Just received the first Spingarn Medal awarded by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for "foremost service to his race." Just received a Ph.D. in Experimental Embryology from the University of Chicago the following year. In the 1930s, Just traveled to Europe to lecture and do research. He returned a short time before his death in 1941.

Just and his wife, Ethel Highwarden, moved into this house in 1914.