Freedom Riders Arriving in Alabama

Freedom Riders arriving at Birmingham, AL bus station in 1961. Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth escorts Catherine Burks-Brooks, John Lewis, and other Freedom Riders.

Vivian and Nash march in Nashville

C.T. Vivian and Diane Nash lead a demonstration march to City Hall in Nashville, TN.

C.T. Vivian

C.T. Vivian with National Guardsmen on bus from Birmingham, AL to Jackson, MS.

C.T. Vivian

On the impact of employing nonviolence

C.T. Vivian

On why Civil Rights activism increased in the 1960s.

C.T. Vivian

On the Kennedys' response to the Freedom Rides

C.T. Vivian

On Robert Kennedy's request for a cooling off period

Bernard Lafayette, Jr.

On nonviolence as a strategy

Rabbi Israel “Si” Dresner

On value of nonviolence

James Lawson

On nonviolence training in Washington DC and Nashville

James Lawson

On the logic of nonviolent intervention

Victory for Nonviolence, part 1

Freedom Riders participated in CORE training sessions before getting on the bus.

Victory for Nonviolence, part 2

Rabbi Dresser and Delore Boyd comment on the power of nonviolent methods.

The Strategy

In the early 1960s, activists impatient for change turned to a new strategy: non-violent direct action.