Flyer, “Why We Are Picketing”

Glen Echo Amusement Park was the Washington metro area's premier amusement park for more than 50 years until its closure in the late 1960s. It was originally established as the 53rd National Chautauqua, an arts educational center, in the 1890s. It later became one of the region's first trolley parks. However, throughout most of its history the park was segregated.

In the summer of 1960, a group of protesters consisting of students from Howard University and the surrounding community of Bannockburn in Montgomery County, MD staged a series of protests and sit-ins decrying the segregationist policies of Rekab Inc., the company that ran Glen Echo Amusement Park. The featured flyer was handed out by protesters throughout the summer of 1960, explaining their cause and how members of the community could support the group.

The protests, which included sit-ins at the iconic 1921 Dentzel Carousel in the park, sparked off counter protests by pro-segregation groups and were a part of a wave of similar protests taking place across the National Capital Region in the 1960s. As a result of these protests, when the park opened to the public for its next season in 1961 it was as an institution open to all members of the surrounding community.