using restrooms , attending public gatherings and schools .
There was systemic inequality between White and Black segregated schools . In Black schools , teachers were paid about half the salary of teachers in White schools , books and furnishings were given to Black schools second hand from White schools , and buildings were used far beyond their prime .
In the early 1950s , Black schools were consolidated from scattered locations to larger , centrally located schools . The Edward U . Taylor School , located across the street from Boyds Negro , was one such school . In 1954 , the U . S . Supreme court ended legal segregation in American schools .
In 1937 , William Gibbs , represented by Civil Rights attorney and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall , sued for equal pay for Black teachers . The case , filed against the Board of Education , was tried at the courthouse in Rockville and ultimately resulted in equal pay .
AMENITIES : Interpretive panels and programs .
n GLEN ECHO PARK 7300 MacArthur Boulevard Glen Echo • GlenEchoPark . org ( Please check for hours and programs .)
“ If you don ’ t know your history and don ’ t know your past , it ’ s going to come back and bite you . I ’ d tell [ those protesting today ] be aware of what formerly was and what is .”
~ glen echo amusement park protester dion diamond
THEME : Civil Rights .
Top : Dentzel Carosel : above : Glen Echo protestors .
BACKGROUND : Glen Echo Park was first developed in 1891 as a National Chautauqua Assembly . By the early 1900s the site had become Glen Echo Amusement Park — the premier amusement park serving the Washington area until 1968 , when it closed .
In 1971 , after the federal government obtained the park land , the National Park Service ( NPS ) began managing a new park on the site . NPS collaborated with artists and arts organizations to create a rich arts program in the spirit of the original Chautauqua movement . The Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture was established in 2002 as a nonprofit organization to oversee the Park ’ s arts and cultural programs and maintain the historic facilities , including the 1921 Dentzel Carousel and the 1933 Spanish Ballroom , in collaboration with NPS and Montgomery County , Maryland .
CIVIL RIGHTS : In the summer of 1960 , Howard University students led protests at Glen Echo Amusement Park , a privately operated and segregated entertainment venue . The Howard University protesters rode the carousel and were arrested for doing so in violation of the amusement park ’ s segregation policies that barred African Americans . The students and residents from the neighboring Bannockburn community formed an unprecedented interracial alliance to confront the privately-operated amusement park ’ s owners , Maryland ’ s Jim Crow laws , the American Nazi Party , and the Supreme Court . Their protests led to the amusement park ’ s desegregation , opening the venue to everyone for its 1961 season and beyond . When the amusement park closed in 1968 , the site became the property of the federal government and is now jointly owned by our entire community .
Top : Boyds Negro School ; above : school children .
AMENITIES : NPS tours by appointment , arts classes and camps , children ’ s theater performances , exhibitions , social dance events , concerts , interpretive signage , café , picnic area , playground , and restrooms .