[1] It was the first high school for African-Americans in Prince George's County,[1] and was funded by a fundraising effort by Prince George's County Supervisor of Colored Schools, Doswell E. Brooks, which began in 1922.
[3][5] The land for this school was donated by Sheldon Sasscer and was in the Valley Lane area.
[3][4] During the era of legal racial segregation in schools, White students in the Upper Marlboro area attended Marlboro High School, which opened two years earlier in 1921.
[5][1] Prior to the establishment of Marlboro, Black students in Prince George's County attended high school in either Baltimore or Washington, DC.
[1] In November 1929, families from the area near Young's Corner market (20 miles away) requested an expansion of the county bus lines, in order to also attend Marlboro Colored High School, however that was rejected in March 1930 based on the estimated cost to tax payers and the size of the school.