In June 1960, police arrested African American students from Howard University for sitting on the gilded horses of the whites-only Glen Echo Amusement Park merry-go-round. The arrests made headlines in the nascent “Sit-Down Movement.” When the predominantly Jewish community joined the Black students in picketing, the first organized interracial civil rights protest in US history was born. Despite sweltering heat and violent counter-protesters from the American Nazi Party, Black students marched with white suburbanites for ten weeks. Picketing led to partying together, union bosses collaborated with student leaders, young people became radicalized, and future giants of the Civil Rights Movement were born.
Directed by Emmy-award winner Ilana Trachtman (Praying with Lior, BJFF 2007) and featuring narration by Jeffrey Wright and Mandy Patinkin, Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round is a timely cinematic excavation of this little-known Civil Rights story.
Followed by a conversation with Director Ilana Trachtman and Ayele Shakur, President of the Redstone Foundation, moderated by Ed Gaskin.
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Thank you to our partner, Jewish Story Partners.
