Before Us Lies the Timber: The Segregated High School of Montgomery County, Maryland, 1927-1960

There were already ten public high schools in Montgomery County, Maryland. But these forty students weren’t allowed to attend any of them because of the color of their skin.

Before its opening, young African-Americans in Montgomery County were faced with a choice between leaving their families behind to seek a high school education in Baltimore City or Washington, D.C., or staying at home to eke out a living as a domestic or labor on their parents’ farms.

Now, Rockville Colored High School, the result of aggressive determination and tireless persistence by Montgomery County School Board pioneers, became the first high school in the county for African-American boys and girls eager to continue their education.

As the doors opened to a school of their own, these students could finally see the hope and opportunity that a secondary education offered.

Struggling through economic, social, and transportation challenges, they journeyed towards their diplomas. The first graduating class of Rockville Colored High chose as their motto "Before Us Lies the Timber—Let Us Build," reflecting their dreams for the future.

The first class graduated in 1931. Due to economic circumstances, only nine of the original forty students received their diplomas. Yet, over the next 29 years, the population of black residents able to earn a high school education within the county became so large that, twice, new schools had to be built to accommodate them—first, Lincoln High School replaced Rockville Colored High, and later Carver High School replaced Lincoln High.

The students in these years were given the chance to live their lives doing the things that all teenagers do. They founded a National Honor Society chapter, elected May Day Queens, and formed school baseball and basketball teams. They crammed for finals, wrote farewell poems for their beloved teachers, and marched to "Pomp and Circumstance" at commencement.

The author was himself a graduate of Lincoln High in 1945. Warrick S. Hill has assembled a wealth of not just historical information, but personal stories as well. Each graduating class is given its own commemorative chapter, recreating, year by year, the trials, challenges, and accomplishments of these unique students attending the high schools they loved.

The histories chronicled in this book will help you not only to learn what African-Americans in Montgomery County went through, but will keep their memories alive for future generations.