Reunion of Montgomery County Segregated Schools is Next Week

Former students of Montgomery County segregated schools will gather in Gaithersburg next week to reunite and reminisce. 

The reunion welcomes any former students of the segregated schools that served African-American students in the county from 1927 to 1960.

About 300 people from around the country are expected to attend the festivities, which will be held from 4 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 6 at the Inter-Denominational Church of God, 19201 Woodfield Road, in Gaithersburg.

The program includes:

• 4 to 5 p.m.: Worship service.
• 5 to 8 p.m.: Catered meal.
• 5 to 10 p.m.: Music and entertainment.

Among the county’s segregated schools was Rockville Colored High School, which opened in 1927. It was replaced in 1935 by Lincoln High School, which initially served students in grades 8 to 11, according to a history of the county’s segregated schools that is posted on the Montgomery County Public Schools website.

In 1951, George Washington Carver High School and Junior College opened in Rockville as the county’s first senior high school and college for African-American students. Lincoln became a junior high school for grades 7 to 9.

Three years later, the U.S. Supreme Court's declared segregated schools unconstitutional in Brown v. the Board of Education, Topeka, KS.

Carver’s last class graduated in 1960. In 1961, the school building became the a function it still serves. The building was designated a Rockville Historic District in 2003.

Click here for more on the history of Carver High School and Junior College.

Reunion attendees are invited to submit reflections and photographs. Tickets are $35. Checks or money orders should be payable to: Class Reunion Fund, P.O. Box 1846, Rockville, MD 20849.

For more information and ticket sales call:

• Warren Crutchfield: 301-641-1119.
• Eleanor Genies: 301-439-1908.
• Margaret Williams: 301-428-0524.

The first reunion of students of county segregated schools was held last year in Sandy Spring. Click here for to read coverage of last year’s reunion from The Gazette.