Five Black students rode a segregated carousel in 1960, igniting one of the earliest organized interracial civil rights protest in US history. Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round is the untold story of the Jews they marched with, the Nazis they provoked, the Congressmen they inspired, and Civil Rights leaders they became. The Workers Circle plays an important role in this award-winning film. Join us at the IFC Center for a screening to be followed with a Q/A featuring filmmaker Ilana Tractman, Workers Circle CEO Ann Toback, and activist Rev. Mark A. Thompson, moderated by justice advocate Joan Grangenois-Thomas.
Film Summary
Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round is the untold story of the first organized interracial civil rights protest in U.S. history. When 5 Howard University students sat on a Maryland carousel in 1960, the arrests made headlines. When the white community near Glen Echo Amusement Park joined the Black students in picketing, an extraordinary history-making partnership was born. The pickets attracted Nazis, Congressman, and a press avalanche. Picketing together over the sweltering summer led to partying together, and union organizers mentored student activists. Ten 1961 Freedom Riders, including Stokely Carmichael, were incubated on the Glen Echo picket line, and the carousel arrests were challenged in the Supreme Court case. With never-before seen footage, and immersive storytelling by Emmy-award winning director Ilana Trachtman (Praying with Lior, Black in Latin America, The Pursuit), four living protesters rescue this forgotten history, revealing the price, and the power, of heeding the impulse 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.
Bios
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Joan Grangenois-Thomas is a seasoned communications professional who brings her extensive communications experience working with community groups, non-profit organizations, individuals and social enterprises to every project she executes. Finding the right marketing opportunities that meet her clients’ goals is a challenge she enjoys. Joan spent 10 years as a contract facilitator with the Anti-Defamation League’s A World of Difference Institute. There, she presented anti-bias training to school children, faculty and staff. Joan has brought that learning to her own community through the many organizations she’s been involved with including as president of the Port Chester/Rye N.A.A.C.P. In 2015, Joan founded Read, Talk, Act, an Interfaith, Social Justice Book Club, after the horrific attack on churchgoers at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, SC. The goal of the club is reading to gain understanding of the many ways racism and discrimination have taken root. As a result of her efforts, Joan is sought after to bring her brand of bias awareness to groups around Westchester County. She is excited to bring these experiences to bear on behalf of Journeys 2 Change.
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llana Trachtman is an Emmy award-winning documentary director/producer. For over twenty-five years, she has created programs for numerous networks including PBS, HBO Family, ABC-TV, Showtime, Discovery, Lifetime, and the Sundance Channel. llana believes that true stories, carefully told, have unique power to inspire compassion, action, and community-building. Her topics have ranged from the legacy of slavery in Latin America (Black in Latin America with Henry Louis Gates, PBS) to Gulf coast shrimpers (Our Heroes, Ourselves, Lifetime), glassblowing for at-risk youth (The Arts Advantage, ABC-TV) to transgender parents (The Pursuit, PBS.) Other favorite prime-time directing credits include the independent feature Mariachi High and Texas Ranch House. llana supervised production on PBS' History Detectives and Sundance’s Big Ideas for a Small Planet. Through her production company Ruby Pictures, Ilana made the feature documentary Praying with Lior which played theatrically in over 60 cities in the US and abroad. The film garnered 6 Audience Awards for Best Documentary, the Grand Prix at the International Disability Film Festival in Moscow, and was a critic's pick of the New York Times, New York Magazine, Washington Post, and Philadelphia Inquirer.
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Ann Toback is the transformative CEO of the Workers Circle, where she has redefined what a 125-year-old progressive Jewish organization can achieve in the modern era. As the first female CEO in the organization's history, Ann has spent more than 15 years building a fusion of Eastern European Jewish heritage with contemporary social justice activism that now reaches millions. Drawing on the Workers Circle's rich Eastern European tradition of resistance and resilience, she has transformed this heritage into a powerful force for democracy and social justice. Prior to joining the Workers Circle, Ann served as Assistant Executive Director at the Writers Guild of America, East (1999-2008), where she led the historic 2007-2008 Writers Guild strike on the East Coast. This experience as a union leader, combined with her background as an attorney (Boston University School of Law, J.D.), has informed her approach to merging advocacy, education, and cultural preservation into a strategy for collective impact.
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The Rev. Mark A. Thompson has spent most of his life as a political, civil rights & human rights activist and organizer. He not only has been a part of every major social justice movement & event over the past 40 years, he has also been a radio broadcaster for three decades, and he has spent over 10 years as a television commentator, as well.
Rev. Mark hosts Make It Plain (MIP), a political, human rights and breaking news podcast. Rev. Mark’s lifelong social justice activism intersects with his years of experience broadcasting the news and issues of the day. Newsmakers, politicos, policy-makers, entertainers and athletes alike make MIP a frequent sojourn.In 2021, MIP was named among Best Civil Rights Podcasts, Best Human Rights Podcasts, Best Podcasts About Social Justice and Best Broadcast Television Podcasts. Rev. Mark was honored at the 104th Annual NAACP Convention in Orlando in July 2013 “for 25 years of crusading journalism and outstanding leadership in furthering the work of civil and human rights.
Rev. Mark, is a Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers 2023 Inductee.