The Freedom Rides

The freedom rides, part of the Civil Rights Movement, began in 1961. Civil rights activists called freedom riders rode on interstate buses into the segregated southern U.S. in order to test the Supreme Court decision Boynton v. Virginia. The case had outlawed racial segregation in the restaurants and waiting rooms in terminals serving buses that crossed state lines. An African American law student was convicted of trespassing by being in a restaurant in a bus terminal which was “whites only”. The Freedom Ride, which consisted of African Americans and whites, left Washington DC on May 4th, 1961. On May 14th, the freedom riders split up into two groups to travel through Alabama. Both groups faced angry mobs who stoned the bus and slashed tires, and the riders were severely beaten. Despite the violence and resistance that they faced, the riders were determined to continue. On their next trip from Birmingham to Montgomery, they were again assaulted and bloodied when they arrived at their destination. In attempt to protect them, Kennedy called in the US marshals, and when they continued to Mississippi they encountered heavy police presence. The riders were arrested in Jackson and sentenced to the maximum-security Parchman Penitentiary for trespassing. The freedom riders eventually won when Kennedy got the Interstate Commerce Commission to ban segregation in interstate travel. The efforts of these activists bolstered the credibility of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Sources: "The Freedom Rides". PBS. June 1, 2009 <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/05_riders.html>.

Cozzens, Lisa. "Freedom Rides". June 1, 2009 <http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/civilrights-55-65/freeride.html>.