Date and Time for this Past Event
- Saturday, May 17, 2025 7:15pm
Details
Special Features: Q&A with filmmaker Ilana Trachtman on May 17 at 2:15 p.m.
In the summer of 1960, five Howard students sat down on the gilded horses of a whites-only carousel. When members of the white community near Glen Echo Amusement Park joined the Black students en masse and set up picket lines, an unprecedented collaboration was born. The pickets attracted Nazis, Congressmen and a press avalanche. Picketing together led to partying together, and union organizers mentored student activists, ultimately producing 10 1961 Freedom Riders, including Stokely Carmichael, and a Supreme Court case. With never-before-seen footage and immersive storytelling from Emmy®-award winning director Ilana Trachtman, this documentary features four living protesters who rescue this untold story, revealing the price — and the power — of heeding the call to activism. AIN’T NO BACK TO A MERRY-GO-ROUND includes voiceover by noted actors Jeffrey Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Bob Balaban, Lee Grant, Peter Gallagher, Dominique Thorne, Alysia Reiner and Tracie Thoms.
