Graduates and Staff of Montgomery County’s Segregated George Washington Carver High School and Junior College to Participate in Opening of Multimedia Historical Exhibit

School System’s Administrative Building was Home to a High School and Junior College Opened in the 1950s for African Americans in Montgomery County

Opening ceremonies for a multimedia exhibit about the former George Washington Carver High School and Junior College will take place at the Carver Educational Services Center, 850 Hungerford Drive in Rockville, on Wednesday, May 17, at 10:00 a.m.

“Carver: The Heart of a Community” will highlight the pivotal role of Carver High School and Junior College from 1951-1960 for African American students in Montgomery County. The exhibit features personal stories and recollections of segregated education in the county. It was developed by the Carver History Project Committee, which included Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) staff, former Carver students and staff members, and two local authors of books on the education of African American students in Montgomery County.

The exhibit in the lobby of the Carver Center features photographs, documents, and artifacts from the private collections of former Carver staff members and students. Most of the images are on public display for the first time. Excerpts from videotaped oral histories describe the experiences of former students at Carver and in education during segregation.

An accompanying booklet and interactive Web site provide additional information and photographs to allow visitors to more fully comprehend the uniqueness of Carver, the first high school built to standards on par with White schools in Montgomery County at the time and the first junior college for African American students in the county. A curriculum on the Carver History Project for MCPS students is being developed to complement studies of local history and provide a firsthand view of the impact of both segregation and the difficult years of desegregation that followed.

The building has served as administrative headquarters for MCPS since 1961, a year after George Washington Carver Junior College closed.