by\u00a0Randy Shaw<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>on\u00a0May 13, 2024<\/span><\/span><\/h4><\/div><\/span>\u00a0(BeyondChron.org)![\"\"](\"https:\/\/beyondchron.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/civilrights.jpg\")
<\/div>Before the March on Washington, there was Glen Echo<\/strong><\/p>A powerful, inspiring and truly wonderful new film premiered at the Maryland Film Festival last week.\u00a0 AIN\u2019T NO BACK TO A MERRY-GO-ROUND tells the story of civil rights activists battling in 1960 to open the Glen Echo amusement park to blacks. It\u2019s a timely reminder of the strategies and tactics activists used to win campaigns for civil rights. It also reminds us how little impact historic court rulings like\u00a0Brown v. Board of Education<\/em>\u00a0had in the real world. The civil rights movement was won in the streets and the legislatures, not in the courts.<\/p>Here\u2019s why this new film is so special.<\/p>
Black-Jewish Alliance<\/strong><\/p>Five students of Howard University built a campaign to force the local Glen Echo amusement park\u2014in Bannockburn, Maryland, a suburb of Washington D.C.\u2014to open to blacks. Glen Echo was no Disneyland but it had rides, a roller coaster and, most importantly for those hot summer days, a huge swimming pool.<\/p>
All for whites only.<\/p>
Filmmaker\u00a0 Ilana Trachtman assembled interviews with many participants in the campaign. Some went on to become Freedom Riders, with\u00a0Dion Diamond<\/a>\u00a0getting arrested over thirty times. Others became lifelong activists. Among them was Stokely Carmicheal, whose first protest was at Glen Echo. The campaign\u2019s Non-Violent Action Group became both a training ground and organizing model for campaigns that would be repeated across the nation in the years that followed.<\/p>Because the campaign occurred in 1960 the activists did not have many models to rely upon.They had to figure out what tactics worked on their own;\u00a0 their experience became a model for others.<\/p>
The Glen Echo campaign highlighted the strong Black-Jewish alliance. The park was located near a suburb filled with Jewish activists and labor organizers. They so strongly embraced the campaign that whites often outnumbered blacks on the picket lines.<\/p>
The campaign also brought extraordinarily talented women into working for social change. In this\u00a0 pre-women\u2019s rights movement era women who in later generations would be fulltime attorneys, doctors and organizers were stay at home housewives. This left them available to devote all their energies to the Glen Echo boycott.<\/p>
Interviews with these women evoke how the campaign gave greater meaning to their lives. And made them activist role models for their children.<\/p>
Attracting National Attention<\/strong><\/p>Glen Echo\u2019s civil rights campaign in the north attracted national attention. The Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan joined counter-protests held by whites. Whites held racist signs and chanted hateful words in a scene that would later be repeated in Chicago, Boston, Yonkers, NY, Detroit and other northern cities. Congressmembers including Adam Clayton Powell showed up to support the civil rights activists.<\/p>
Despite all of their great work, the summer 1960 season ended without a breakthrough. But victory would soon occur.<\/p>
It\u2019s remarkable that a film of a 1960 civil rights campaign could have so much archival footage. And so many participants available to be interviewed. We know the stories of legendary activists like John Lewis but the freedom rides primarily comprised people like\u00a0Hank Thomas<\/a>\u00a0and Dion Diamond whose stories also deserve to be known.<\/p>AIN\u2019T NO BACK TO A MERRY-GO-ROUND gives us these stories. It offers inspiration we all need in today\u2019s troubled times. My hope is that filmmaker Trachtman can get national distribution for this must-see film.<\/p>
<\/div>Before the March on Washington, there was Glen Echo<\/strong><\/p> A powerful, inspiring and truly wonderful new film premiered at the Maryland Film Festival last week.\u00a0 AIN\u2019T NO BACK TO A MERRY-GO-ROUND tells the story of civil rights activists battling in 1960 to open the Glen Echo amusement park to blacks. It\u2019s a timely reminder of the strategies and tactics activists used to win campaigns for civil rights. It also reminds us how little impact historic court rulings like\u00a0Brown v. Board of Education<\/em>\u00a0had in the real world. The civil rights movement was won in the streets and the legislatures, not in the courts.<\/p> Here\u2019s why this new film is so special.<\/p> Black-Jewish Alliance<\/strong><\/p> Five students of Howard University built a campaign to force the local Glen Echo amusement park\u2014in Bannockburn, Maryland, a suburb of Washington D.C.\u2014to open to blacks. Glen Echo was no Disneyland but it had rides, a roller coaster and, most importantly for those hot summer days, a huge swimming pool.<\/p> All for whites only.<\/p> Filmmaker\u00a0 Ilana Trachtman assembled interviews with many participants in the campaign. Some went on to become Freedom Riders, with\u00a0Dion Diamond<\/a>\u00a0getting arrested over thirty times. Others became lifelong activists. Among them was Stokely Carmicheal, whose first protest was at Glen Echo. The campaign\u2019s Non-Violent Action Group became both a training ground and organizing model for campaigns that would be repeated across the nation in the years that followed.<\/p> Because the campaign occurred in 1960 the activists did not have many models to rely upon.They had to figure out what tactics worked on their own;\u00a0 their experience became a model for others.<\/p> The Glen Echo campaign highlighted the strong Black-Jewish alliance. The park was located near a suburb filled with Jewish activists and labor organizers. They so strongly embraced the campaign that whites often outnumbered blacks on the picket lines.<\/p> The campaign also brought extraordinarily talented women into working for social change. In this\u00a0 pre-women\u2019s rights movement era women who in later generations would be fulltime attorneys, doctors and organizers were stay at home housewives. This left them available to devote all their energies to the Glen Echo boycott.<\/p> Interviews with these women evoke how the campaign gave greater meaning to their lives. And made them activist role models for their children.<\/p> Attracting National Attention<\/strong><\/p> Glen Echo\u2019s civil rights campaign in the north attracted national attention. The Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan joined counter-protests held by whites. Whites held racist signs and chanted hateful words in a scene that would later be repeated in Chicago, Boston, Yonkers, NY, Detroit and other northern cities. Congressmembers including Adam Clayton Powell showed up to support the civil rights activists.<\/p> Despite all of their great work, the summer 1960 season ended without a breakthrough. But victory would soon occur.<\/p> It\u2019s remarkable that a film of a 1960 civil rights campaign could have so much archival footage. And so many participants available to be interviewed. We know the stories of legendary activists like John Lewis but the freedom rides primarily comprised people like\u00a0Hank Thomas<\/a>\u00a0and Dion Diamond whose stories also deserve to be known.<\/p> AIN\u2019T NO BACK TO A MERRY-GO-ROUND gives us these stories. It offers inspiration we all need in today\u2019s troubled times. My hope is that filmmaker Trachtman can get national distribution for this must-see film.<\/p>