This article investigates the struggle over the desegregation of leisure areas in the city of Baltimore from the 1930s until the 1950s. First, it examines why the desegregation of public leisure was a crucial terrain for African American mobilizations and white resistance in Baltimore. Second, it explores the evolution of African Americans’ political tactics from an indirect attack in favor of gradual desegregation to a direct attack in favor of immediate desegregation of public space. Third, the article considers Baltimore as a case study of the “long civil rights movement” thesis by pointing out the import of leisure activities and the role of the black middle and upper class in its formation.