"My family, we used to go there all the time once they let us in. To have the carousel back on the National Mall means a lot to me and the many others who fought for the freedoms of this country."
"So while that was occurring in D.C., quiet activism with little people was occurring on the same date. This is a monument for children to come and enjoy, ride and experience the pursuit of happiness."
The Smithsonian Institution's carousel has reopened after nearly three years of restoration. The first riders included a group of African American adults who desegregated the carousel in the 1960s. Janice Chance, who first rode it in 1966, expressed the significance of its return. The carousel's history is intertwined with civil rights activism, as it was integrated on the same day as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous speech. Sharon Langley, the first Black child to ride it, emphasized its role as a monument for freedom and joy.
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]