Nine civil rights demonstrators walked onto I-495 to protest the lack of rental housing for African Americans in the D.C. suburbs. Attorney Jones led a three-day, 64-mile march around the beltway.

This marker at the Sandy Spring Slave Museum & African Art Gallery honors Elijah Cummings, who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1996-2019 and fought for civil rights and to improve opportunities for African Americans.

William Gibbs, principal at Rockville Colored Elementary School, petitioned the Board of Education for equal pay for Black educators. His petition was denied, and Gibbs filed suit. He was represented by Thurgood Marshall and Charles Houston.

Protests in the summer of 1960 by Howard University students, organized as the Nonviolent Action Group, led to the integration of the Glen Echo Amusement Park in 1961. Legal battles over the carousel sit-in continued until 1964.

Carver was the first African-American junior college in Montgomery County, while Lincoln High School was the only high school. Carver High School and Junior College opened in 1951 and later merged with Montgomery Jr. College following desegregation.

Mitchell, a U.S. Senator, was an effective proponent of civil rights through legislation. He served as Director of the NAACP’s Washington bureau for 30 years. On the University’s Board of Regents, he worked to eradicate discrimination.

The 1964 film, based on John Howard Griffin’s book, provides a view of the Jim Crow South, hoping to destroy barriers between Blacks and Whites. Filming was done in secret to avoid violence. Griffin gave lectures during the Civil Rights movement.

Doswell Brooks served as Supervisor of Colored Schools in 1922, and in 1956 was appointed as the first African-American member of the Board of Education. He also served on the Fairmount Heights Town Council and was Mayor from 1955 to 1968.

Formerly “Henry’s Colored Hotel,” this facility catered to African-American tourists and entertainers who stayed here while performing at the Pier Ballroom. The beach was restricted also via reserved periods known as “Colored Excursion Days.”