Damascus
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Montgomery County was founded in 1776. From the beginning, racism took many forms here, including widespread slavery. In 1800 enslaved people were one-third of the county’s population. By 1960, the Black population in the county had shrunk to 4%. Multiple forms of racism had driven Black families out of the county, as they tried to find employment, housing and safety. Throughout this time, Black residents remained resilient, creating communities and churches and fighting for their rights.
During the Jim Crow era, from the late 1900s to the mid-1960s when the last Jim Crow law was ended, racist policies and structures permeated much of American society, including Montgomery County. Restaurants were typically segregated; Black people could work there, but would not be seated and often had to order food from the back door. In many communities there were racially separate water fountains, cemeteries and schools. Movie theaters had segregated seating, and at clothing stores, Black people were not allowed to try on clothes.
Racial covenants and redlining greatly contributed to housing and school segregation. In oral histories, people recall “sundown” towns, such as Silver Spring, Chevy Chase, Damascus, and Washington Grove, where Black people were threatened with violence if they were in town after dark.
“I couldn’t go to lunchrooms, swimming pools, churches, schools. I couldn’t go anyplace in 1966,” Zeigler said. “We took a lot of beatings, Afro-Americans, back in that time.” (Onley 2020)
Big Woods
Dickerson, Md​
Black Ankle
Claggettsville (linked w/Moxleyville, Zeiglertown)
Damascus (connected with Razorblade, Friendship)
Friendship (connected with Razorblade, Damascus) (same as Friendship Heights in Clarke-Powell research?)
Holsey Road
Howard Chapel
King's Valley
Moxleyville (linked with Claggettsville and Zeiglertown) (is this the same as Moxley Rd. on Clarke-Powell doc?)
Pleasant Grove
Purdum
The Pleasant Grove Church was built in 1868.
Razor Blade (connected with Friendship, Damascus)
Zeiglertown (linked with Claggettsville)
Blocktown
Boyds, Md
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Bucklodge
Martinsburg
Dickerson, Md
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Owensville
Dickerson, Md
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Sellman
Barnesville, Md
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Thompson’s Corner
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Racial Violence
Racial violence has been used across the United States to terrorize Blacks since the founding of the country. During slavery, it could mean whips and chains. During Jim Crow, it could mean assault, mob violence, police intimidation, and more. And in the late 1800s, three men were lynched by mobs in Montgomery County – Mr. George Peck in Poolesville; and Mr. John Diggs-Dorsey and Mr. Sidney Randolph in Rockville.
Klan Klux Klan activity appeared in Montgomery County in the 1920s with documented chapters in Takoma Park, Bethesda, Rockville and Poolesville. However, rallies – such as the one in Needwood Park, near Rockville in 1982 (Associated Press 1982) – were intended to terrorize Black citizens, and the KKK moniker and other racist graffiti continue to be painted on school walls today.
Black residents resisted these kinds of racism across the county's history as shown by escapes from enslavement, service during the Civil War, freedmen's bureau complaints, the establishment of Black communities, churches, schools and mutual aid societies. Black delegations lobbied the government for better roads, running water, and other improvements to housing. Slowly, organizations such as NAACP chapters, along with protests and pickets of segregated spaces by residents at places like the Glen Echo amusement Park in the 1960s, led to passage of the federal Public Accommodations Act in 1964. (1) In Montgomery County, racial justice advocates used the Act to force places like Glen Echo Amusement Park and public swimming pools to desegregate.
Despite its troubled history, Montgomery County now includes four of the most diverse cities in the U.S.: Silver Spring (#1); Gaithersburg (#2); Germantown (#4); and Rockville (#19). (McCann 2021) And residents of all colors and faiths have turned out en masse to clean racist slurs and swastikas from walls, clean up historic Black cemeteries, and to protest racial violence. Historic markers in the county now acknowledge the three men who were lynched over 130 years ago. And the Maryland State Senate in March 2026 has introduced a Joint Resolution concerning the Apology and Acknowledgement of the State's Responsibility in Racial Terror Lynchings.
Creating a county that supports people of all colors and faiths has been slow, but there is progress.
References
​Cornell Law School. 2018. “Eminent Domain.” LII / Legal Information Institute. Cornell Law School. November 13, 2018. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/eminent_domain
Geehrig, Joey. 2020. “ Poolesville BLM March.” Youtube. June 12, 2020. https://youtu.be/jpEv3R84DQw?si=-hMkEpjC-ODkXiEh.Gehreng, Joey. 2026. “Ten Days in September 1956: School Desegregation in Poolesville, MD.” Youtube. 2026. https://youtu.be/KcVrshfqliY?si=BcKZPkRtNjEqE0VU
Johnson, Suzanne. 2024. Conversations, 2023-2025 Interview by Neile Whitney. Sugarland Ethnohistory Project.“Lynching Victims: George W. Peck, John Diggs-Dorsey & Sidney Randolph.” 2023. MoCoLMP.org. 2023. https://www.mocolmp.org/victims-of-racial-terror
Martin, Charlie. 2025. “The History of Montgomery County’s Sundown Towns.” The Black and White. The Student News Site of Walt Whitman High School. June 27, 2025. https://theblackandwhite.net/81235/feature/the-history-of-montgomery-countys-sundown-towns/
McCann, Adam. 2021. “Most Diverse Cities in the U.S.” WalletHub. April 19, 2021. https://wallethub.com/edu/most-diverse-cities/12690
Melanie Alnwick. 2023. “Racist ‘KKK’ Graffiti Found at Bethesda Elementary School | FOX 5 DC.” YouTube. FOX 5 Washington DC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he4B3I1NEiE
Montgomery Planning. 2023. “Mapping Segregation Project Racial Restrictive Covenants and Black Homeownership.” Montgomery County Planning. 2023. https://mcplanning.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0d26456118d34a14b2d27aec8d6f2b1a
Nelson, Robert K. 2025. “Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America.” Mapping Inequality. University of Richmond. 2025. https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining
Onley, Dawn. 2020. “Grandson of a Slave, Maryland Centenarian Still Fights for Black History and Civil Rights.” TheGrio. April 17, 2020. https://thegrio.com/2020/04/17/grandson-slave-centenarian-black-history-civil-rights/
Staff. 2020. “A Collection of Montgomery County Protest Photos.” Bethesda Magazine. June 8, 2020. https://bethesdamagazine.com/2020/06/08/a-collection-of-montgomery-county-protest-photos/
Vorhees, Jim. 2026. “A Look at the History of Racial Violence in Montgomery County.” MoCoLMP. January 23, 2026. https://www.mocolmp.org/post/racial-violence-in-montgomery-county