ALBANY– A documentary, “Ain’t No Back To A Merry-Go-Round,” will be screened and discussed Thursday, Oct. 15, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Albany Institute of History & Art, 125 Washington Ave., Albany.

The film, directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ilana Trachtman, tells the story of the first organized interracial civil rights protest in U.S. history. She will attend the screening and offer a question and answer session following the showing. A kosher reception will conclude the program.

The documentary depicts how when five Howard University students sat down on a carousel at Maryland’s Glen Echo Amusement Park in 1960, their arrests made headlines. When the white community near the park joined the black students in picketing, a history-making partnership was born.

The pickets attracted Nazis, a congressman, and a press avalanche. Picketing together over a sweltering summer led to partying together, and union organizers mentored student activists. Ten of the 1961 Freedom Riders, including Stokely Carmichael, were incubated on the Glen Echo picket line, and the carousel arrests were challenged in a case that reached the Supreme Court.

Featuring never-before-seen footage and immersive storytelling by director Trachtman (“Praying With Lior,” “Black in Latin America,” and “The Pursuit”), four living protesters help rescue this sometimes forgotten history, revealing, according to program organizers, the price — and the power — of heeding the impulse to activism.

The film includes voice-over performances by Jeffrey Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Bob Balaban, Lee Grant, Peter Gallagher, Dominique Thorne, Alysia Reiner, and Tracie Thoms.

Sponsored by Temple Sinai as part of the SJCA’s social justice series, the free screening is supported by The Richer Team at Hanna Commercial Realtors. Additional program support is provided by the Capital District Jewish Holocaust Memorial for the reception, the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York for accommodations, Rick D’Avino for travel, and Phyllis Wang, Saratoga Jewish Community Arts for communications.

Registration may be obtained at https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/ONRmNou/Merry101526.