A Ride to Remember

When Sharon Langley was born, amusement parks were segregated, and Black families were not allowed in. Her book, A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story, tells the true story of how that began to change in the summer of 1963. Sharon's family was the first Black family to enter the amusement park after it was desegregated, and Sharon, eleven months old, was the first Black kid to ride on the carousel.

Watch a trailer for A Ride to Remember:

Hear Sharon Langley read her book, A Ride to Remember:

On July 4th, 1963, people protested the segregated amusement park. White and Black people protested together. Protestors refused to leave and had to be carried into police vans and taken to jail.

Many local priests and ministers joined the protest.

Sharon Langley, age eleven months, on the carousel ride with her dad:

This was the first day that Black kids were allowed to ride on the carousel, or even enter the amusement park:

After years of protests, the amusement park was finally integrated:

Sharon's photograph was in the newspaper -- at only eleven months old, she was famous!

This was back in the summer of 1963. Only 25 cents to ride!

Sharon Langley as a grownup, visiting the horse she rode that day. Her name is now engraved on the horse: