Essay On Freedom Riders

13 Freedom Riders were divided into two groups and left for Birmingham, Alabama on May 1, 1961. The two buses, a Grey hound and a Trailways bus, departed from Washington, D.C. 7 black and 6 white men and women were led by CORE director, James Farmer. The riders plan was to have at least 1 interracial pair sitting beside one another and at least 1 single black person sitting in the front of the bus which was reserved for whites only. The remainders of the group would sit where there was room. Only one of the Freedom Riders in the group would obey the South’s segregation laws.

Freedom riders challenged the facilities they encountered at bus terminals in the south which had been deemed illegal by the supreme court doing that those were dangerous the things that happened were beatings and arrests for the many people who were in it even Lewis suffered through it.

Stanley Nelson chronicles the journey of a group of individuals, known as the Freedom Riders, whom fought for the rights of African Americans to have the same amenities and access as the Caucasians. The purpose of the Freedom Rides was to deliberately violate the Jim Crow laws of the south that prohibited blacks and whites from mixing together on buses and trains. Expectedly, many of the Freedom Riders were beaten and the majority was imprisoned. This carried on for the majority of 1961 and culminated with the Interstate Commerce Commission issuing an order to end the segregation in bus and rail stations. Nelson encapsulates this entire movement in about two hours. At the end of the two hours, the viewer is emotionally tied to the

The Freedom rides were put together by Mr. Farmer and consisted of a mixed race of people. They all followed the rule: “Jail no bail.” This ride was non-violent and resulted in turmoil near the south. This smart idea made James Farmer a powerful leader in the Civil Rights movement. No one had the same amount of courage and fight inside as he did.

In 1961 James Farmer knew he had to get the attention of the press but he didn’t know how. Then he had the idea of The Freedom Riders (TFR) and what these people would do is get about a hundred of them and get on a bus but they would take up all the seats and not get off so no one could get on. They were never violent about anything they did. Some people had the idea for the bus waiting room too. Black people would crowd up the white waiting room so the white people had to go into the color waiting room all the while all of the TFR were nonviolent. This worked until disaster striked TFR were doing the usual crowding up a bus and I guess some people got fed up with in because the bus stopped and then burst into flames. In the after math there was reports of a old man Walter Bergman that was in a wheel chair was beaten half to

Freedom Riders were a group of civil rights activist that rode buses into the segregated southern United States in 1961, to fight the decisions of the United States Supreme Court on the court case Boynton vs.Virginia which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. Freedom Riders were recruited by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). CORE also organized the Freedom Rides which took place in 1961.

A group of people risked their life to obtain equality for African Americans in the south. The Freedom Riders were a group of around 13 people. Most of them were African Americans but there were always a few white skinned people in the group as well. There was no set leader for the Freedom Riders. The Freedom Riders rode interstate buses into the Southern United States. The south was referred to as the most segregated part of the U.S. The main goal of the Freedom Riders was to desegregate and become “separate but equal.” They had also set out to defy the Jim Crow Laws. The Freedom Riders had a little bit of help from two court cases: Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia and Boynton v. Virginia. These court cases ruled that it was

The Freedom Rides was a campaign, lead by Aboriginal student Charles Perkins, that highlighted and brought international attention to the racism, poor state of Aboriginal health, education and housing in western and coastal New South Wales towns. The campaign consisted of a group formed at the University of Sydney called the Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA), who travelled around NSW towns protesting the rights for Aboriginal people, aiming to decrease the socially discriminatory barriers existing between the Aboriginal and ‘white’ community. They were witness to violence and serious discrimination as they protested and picketed at community segregation areas such as pools, parks and pub. By the conclusion of the campaign, Charles Perkins

In Freedom’s Main Line, Derek Catsam argues that the most important battle for civl rights was segregated transportation. The first piece of evidence Catsam provides for this statement is that segregated transportation sparked the beginning of the freedom riders. The Freedom Riders were a group of civil rights activists who would ride interstate buses into the segregated southern United States beginning in 1961. Their reason for beginning this act was to challenge the lack of enforcement of the United States Supreme Court’s decision that segregated buses were unconstitutional.

Following, on May 4, 1961, a mixed group of 13 African Americans and white civil rights activist led the Freedom Rides (Freedom Rides?). Similar, to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Freedom Rides traveled to various cities in the south to protest against segregation of the bus terminals. History.com staff concurs “the Freedom Rides, a series of bus trips through the American South to protest segregation in interstate bus terminals.” The purpose of the freedom riders was to openly disobey the Jim Crow laws in the south in a nonviolent fashion. This was a dangerous journey, many of these people were beaten, arrested, and even the buses were destroyed. Yet, they persevered (“Freedom Riders: The Nashville Connection”). History.com staff, adds “The Freedom Riders, were recruited by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a U.S. civil rights group, they departed from Washington D.C., and attempted to integrate facilities at bus terminals along the way in the Deep South.” African Americans would try to use the “whites only” bathrooms and counters, which attracted attention and violence (Freedom Rides). According to the history.com staff due to the efforts of the Freedom Rides, “in September 1961, the interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregation in bus and train nationwide.” The

On May 20th, the Nashville riders went back to Birmingham where there were no incidents. Then, all of the Freedom Riders traveled to Montgomery where a mob of men, women, and children carrying baseball bats, tire irons, and bricks met them at the bus terminal. The angry mob swarmed the riders and they were walking off the bus and beat the passengers. They attacked SNCC activists John Lewis and Jim Zwerg, who were both severely injured in this act of violence.

Although ruled unconstitutional, segregation continued in the Deep South while the government ignored it. The Freedom Rides then set out to challenge these states who ignored the ruling of segregated public buses and continued to enforce the Jim Crow laws. The Freedom Rides rode buses with mixed racial groups into the states. Often white mobs awaited their arrival to beat them down. The people on the bus never responded with violence and took massive beatings. The local police often knew about these mobbing’s, but ceased to do anything about it. Freedom Rides continued to send buses down despite getting beat up and killed. The more often this occurred the more national attention it got. This showed everyone how these states were disregarding

During the freedom rides, African Americans would refuse to ride in black designated seats on public transportation. The creation of the Freedom Rides was one of the main movements of the CORE civil rights groups. One of the leaders, James Farmer, developed the type protest. The bus would travel down from Washington D.C. to New Orleans, Louisiana in an almost transcontinental nonviolent-protest. Farmers plan was imitated the Journey for Reconciliation. In May of 1961, an interracial collection of people boarded two buses from Washington to travel southward in protest of segregation. Known as the Greyhound and Trailways, the buses traveled peacefully throughout the country until they entered South Carolina. White racists outside of Rock Hill attacked the voyageurs. The ride became increasingly insecure the further south they traveled. A mob firebombed and attacked the members of the Greyhound bus in Anniston and another assaulted the Trailways’ riders in Birmingham. Although CORE discontinued the rides, many other riders assembled due to outrage over the violence displayed. A new wave of activists directed by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), including John Lewis, flooded Alabama where once again they were attacked in Montgomery. The significance of this the second wave of riders was that it forced the executive branch to act in response to the violence. Kennedy directed the Nation Guard to escort the riders their next destination of Mississippi. Kennedy’s brother Robert has the voyagers arrested for violating legislation set by pro-segregation officials in Mississippi and to prevent any further violence. James Farmer continued to encourage this type of protest and by the end of the season over 300 advocates had chose jail over fines to “dramatize” the issue. JFK’s forced recognition of the issues

“Freedom Riders” were a group of people, both black and white, who were civil rights activists from the North who “meant to demonstrate that segregated travel on interstate buses, even though banned by an I.C.C. Ruling, were still being enforced throughout much of the South” (The South 16). The Riders attempted to prove this by having a dozen or so white and black Freedom Riders board buses in the North and travel through Southern cities. This was all “a coldly calculated attempt to speed up integration by goading the South, forcing the Southern extremists to explode their tempers” ('Freedom Riders' 20). The author of the Newsweek article stated this as the Southern opinion of the reason for the Freedom Riders. The

From textbooks and documentaries to music and television we have always recognized the black freedom struggle as a historic event in American history. However, this tale is more than just “American.” African American history is part of a global story. The black freedom struggle was part of a global fight for liberation. Minorities around the world united against oppression.