George Washington Carver High School (Rockville, Maryland)


George Washington Carver High School and Junior College was the high school for black children in Rockville, Maryland prior to the integration of public schools with its founding in 1927 until its area schools were integrated.

History

The school, the first high school for black children in Montgomery County, Maryland, originally opened in 1927 as Rockville Colored High School with 40 students. From 1945 to 1951, the school was known as Lincoln High School. In 1937, represented by Thurgood Marshall, Rockville Colored Elementary School principal William B. Gibbs, Jr. successfully sued the Montgomery County School Board over its practice of paying white teachers more than black ones. This resulted in equal pay at the high school as well. The name was changed to George Washington Carver High School in 1951, and for the first time it operated with equal funding with the white schools, and 12th grade was added. A new building was constructed with eight classrooms on the first floor, and large science and home economics labs on the second floor. The junior college, established the previous year, opened for classes in combination with the high school. This was the first post-high school opportunity for black children in Montgomery County, who were not allowed admission to any other colleges in the state. In 1960, the schools were integrated with the public schools.
After desegregation, Carver's students were distributed to formerly all-white schools throughout the county. The board took over the facility for its administrative offices, dropping the Carver name, but returned to using the name after a petition by the NAACP and local black ministers. In 2002, the building was named a Rockville Historic District. Because some schools remained all-white, they were integrated by transferring one teacher from Carver.