Black children were taught prior to the opening of White public schools in Montgomery County in 1872. Records show that Quakers were holding private classes for Black people at least fifty years before aiding in the establishment of the Sharp Street Industrial School in Sandy Spring. 

In the 1850’s Mary Coffin Brooke was one of the county’s finest and most dedicated teachers. She taught at the Fair Hill Female Academy in Sandy Spring. Her students included Quakers, daughters of farmers and girls from as far away as Washington, D.C. and Alexandria, Virginia. During out of school time, she gave lessons in reading and writing to servants and Black working men who wanted to learn to write their names and read the Bible.

By 1867, it was recorded that Black people (one third of the county's population) had acquired land in Montgomery County in several locations. By the end of this year, 1867, over thirty schoolhouses were up, all waiting for teachers. Some Black children attended The Thaddeus Stevens School a historic Black school located at 1050 21st Street, N.W., in the West neighborhood of Washington D.C. built in 1868.  In January 1977 President Jimmy Carter enrolled his daughter Amy Carter at Stevens.

With the opening of Rockville Colored High School in 1927, public high school education became available to Black people. Previously, Black students seeking education beyond eighth grade had to attend school outside of Montgomery County. Some of the students were transported via county sponsored buses to Rockville. It was not until 1954 that all Black elementary school children were transported to school by the county. Jean Thomas Moore, who still lives in Holly Grove started driving the school bus in 1954 and transported students to Lincoln Jr High School, Carver High, and Rock Terrace Elementary School.

Black children from Holly Grove walked from Norwood Road to school at Spencerville well over two miles each way. 

EDUCATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

Mable Drusilla “Teeny” Thomas born January 8, 1927, to the late George Howard and Elizabeth Cook Thomas in Sandy Spring, MD. 

She received her elementary education in Sandy Spring, MD and graduated from Lincoln High School in Rockville, MD. After high school, she attended Morgan State University where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Math and English. Her post-graduate work was at NYU where she earned a Master’s degree in Education.

Her early teaching years were at the then segregated Lincoln High School. After years of teaching at Lincoln High School, she became the Assistant Principal at Rockville’s George Washington Carver High School. She later transferred to Robert E. Peary High School in Rockville, MD where she also served as Assistant Principal. She retired in 1978 after 30 years of committed and dedicated service in the Montgomery County Public School System. 

Mable was a founding member of the Cloverly Civic Association and was instrumental in the creation of the Cloverly Master Plan as a member of the Citizen Advisory Committee, she departed this life suddenly on June 15, 2018, at her home in Holly Grove.