Lunch & Learn: Wonderland Park: Exploring an African-American-Founded Amusement Park and Entertainment Venue in Baltimore City, 1920-1934

Program registration is recommended but not required.

Join Hannah Lane and explore Wonderland Park, an amusement park and jazz music and social dance venue that operated between 1920 and 1934 in Baltimore City. In addition to offering a historical overview of this largely forgotten leisure space, Lane will share insights into how Wonderland came to be and the motivations of those involved in its creation, as well as the parks place in Baltimore’s Black communities and in the larger entertainment landscape of Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic region.

Hannah Lane is a graduate of Goucher College (2018) and works in the Maryland State Archives’ Study of the Legacy of Slavery department. In addition to focusing on the institution of slavery in Maryland and the social and political lives of African Americans prior to Abolition, Hannah has a strong interest in the history of jazz music and dance in Maryland and beyond. Currently she is working on her project, “Queens of the Nightclub,” focusing on shake dancers, primarily Black, Latinx, and queer artists who performed to jazz music in night clubs, dance halls, and theatre stages across America from the 1920s to the 1960s.

ASL interpretation will be available for attendees.

Presented in partnership with The Maryland State Archives and The Maryland Four Centuries Project.