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In 1961, despite two Supreme Court decisions that mandated the desegregation of interstate travel facilities, black and white Americans were not permitted to sit together on buses or in station waiting rooms in many parts of the country. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a civil rights group, organized a “Freedom Ride,” which consisted mostly of college students who wanted to challenge racism, the status quo and the Jim Crow laws of the South.
Freedom Riders Practiced Non-violent Social Protest
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John Lewis and Jim Zwerg were savagely beaten at a bus stop in Alabama. The Freedom Riders practiced non-violent social protest. |
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Departing May 4, 1961, in Washington, D.C., with the destination set for New Orleans, more than 400 black, white, young, old, male and female Americans traveled together on Greyhound and Trailways buses through the Deep South to test whether buses and station facilities were compliant with the Supreme Court rulings.
The 10-city trip began peacefully, but things changed in Alabama. The Freedom Riders were met with violence, including the burning of a bus in Anniston and riots in Birmingham and Montgomery. Angry mobs beat the riders, and police arrested the students as they tried to respond with nonviolent activism.
After six months of protests, arrests and news conferences, on Sept. 22, 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) outlawed discriminatory seating practices on interstate bus transit and ordered the removal of “whites only” signs from interstate bus terminals by Nov. 1, 1961. The ruling was met with protests for several years, and it wasn’t until January 1962 that officials in Birmingham, Ala., complied.
“Jim Crow” governed the South
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Jim Crow laws required 'separate but equal' facilities for Whites and Blacks. |
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The Freedom Rides were a part of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s that brought an end to the system of legalized racial segregation called Jim Crow. Jim Crow laws, which were created by local and state governments in Southern states between 1877 and the 1960s, mandated segregated public facilities, including schools, transportation, restaurants, drinking fountains and restrooms.
While the laws were supposed to offer “separate but equal” accommodations, in reality the facilities for blacks were inferior to those provided to whites, creating educational, economic and social disadvantages for blacks.
The phrase “Jim Crow” has often been attributed to “Jump Jim Crow,” a song-and-dance caricature of African-Americans performed by white actor Thomas D. Rice in blackface in 1832.
50 Years Later, 40 New Students Get on the Bus
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40 college students and original Freedom Riders retraced the 1961 journey from Washington DC to New Orleans, LA. |
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To commemorate the historic acts of nonviolent protests, PBS selected 40 stellar college students to retrace the original Freedom Riders steps.
Departing from Washington, D.C., on May 8, several of the students missed their college graduations to take part in the re-enactment. Watch this Student Voice video to hear from some of the new Freedom Riders participating in social activism.
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Joplin was able to rise from the ashes because of help from everyone. And I am eternally grateful to anyone who made that possible.
