Ain't No Back to a Merry-Go-Round: Screening and Director Q&A

Ain't No Back to a Merry-Go-Round: Screening and Director Q&A
October 15th, 2026, 6:00pm–8:30pm

Free. Advance registration is not required but is encouraged via the online form. Donations in support of the program are welcome and may be made at the Admission Desk on the day of the event.

Join Director Ilana Trachtman for a screening of her award-winning film AIN'T NO BACK TO A MERRY-GO-ROUND, followed by a Q&A. A free kosher reception will conclude the program.

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 five Howard University students sat on a Maryland carousel in 1960, their 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, congressmen, 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, Emmy Award-winning director Ilana Trachtman (Praying with Lior, Black in Latin America, The Pursuit) and four living protesters rescue this forgotten history, revealing the price and power of heeding the impulse to activism. The film includes voiceover by Jeffrey Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Bob Balaban, Lee Grant, Peter Gallagher, Dominique Thorne, Alysia Reiner, and Tracie Thom.

Lead support for the program is provided by The Richer Team at Hanna. Additional program support is provided by Kivort Steel; the Capital District Jewish Holocaust Memorial for the reception; the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York for accommodations; Rick D’Avino for travel; and Phyllis Wang, Saratoga Jewish Community Arts.