An art-deco theater in Westminster with a segregated past has planned a day of events honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
“About eight to 10 of us held the first demonstration for integration outside the Carroll theater in the early 1960s,” said John Lewis, a civil rights activist and Carroll County native. “People were surprised that somebody had the audacity to demonstrate, but we didn?t disturb the peace. We simply picketed and went home.”
The Carroll Arts Center?s Jan. 15 activities ? dancing, African mask-making and a lecture ? are a way to bring “positive light” to a theater with a dark past, said Kibibi Ajanku, director of Sankofa Dance Theatre, a Baltimore troupe that will perform.
“It gives us the opportunity to be a cleansing of that negative spirit,” Ajanku said.
“As African people in America, we have to be empowered with the clear memory of the past because it?s not very helpful to sweep things under the rug.”
The theater on Main Street opened in 1937 and didn?t admit blacks until the 1960s, said Sandy Oxx, the center?s executive director.
“There are still many people who don?t have warm, fuzzy memories about this place,” she said. “We?re doing our darnedest to make this a welcoming place for everyone.”
Legend has it, Oxx said, that the Baltimore Colts? summer practices in Westminster helped to integrate the city.
“It was embarrassing for ushers to turn down their football heroes,” she said.
