NPR · 19 hours ago

Smithsonian Carousel Reopens on National Mall

A carousel that once barred Black children now spins on the National Mall, its reopening ceremony honoring the African American activists who desegregated it in 1963 -- the same day Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. Sharon Langley, who at 11 months old was the first Black child to ride at Gwynn Oak Amusement Park after years of protests, returned this week to mount a horse named Freedom Rider, calling the carousel "a monument for children to come and enjoy, ride and experience the pursuit of happiness." The Civil Rights history may have been lost on the children racing to claim their favorite horses, but the adults from Baltimore who fought for access understood: simple joy, once denied, becomes sacred. What was once a symbol of exclusion now stands among monuments to freedom, transformed by those who refused to accept that any child should be turned away from wonder.