This free lecture, “River Road, Bethesda: A Short History of Black and White 1850-1963” will be presented by L. Paige Whitley of the Montgomery County Historical Society. It examines the commercial section of River Road, Bethesda – sometimes called Westbard – which was once home to a flourishing community of African Americans. This presentation outlines the history of this community and their white neighbors from before the Civil War to after Desegregation, and examines the networks of families faith education and work that held the community together before intensified commercial development led to its eventual disbandment.