In the photo, Sharon Langley is an infant girl of 11 months, dressed all in white atop a carousel pony in suburban Baltimore. Held in place by her father, she regards him with uncertain eyes, unaware of her role in civil rights history.
On this day, Aug. 28, 1963, Gwynn Oak Amusement Park welcomed Black people through its gates for the first time, and Sharon would become known as the first Black child to ride the park’s carousel, the very one that now graces the National Mall near the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building in Washington, D.C.