The fight for freedom was not an easy one for blacks. Years of racial bigotry programmed in society’s mind was the biggest hurdle for blacks in the US. You can change legislation but not the minds and behaviors of people. This made it imperative that black initiate different strategies to achieve the goal of being treated like a human being and having the same inalienable rights given to everyone else. They demonstrated peacefully and they demonstrated in ways that became violent. In the end, they got the attention they needed to begin change. Their fight not only gave rights to blacks but to all people. As I alluded to earlier, you can have all the legislation you want but if it is not enforced and recognized, it doesn’t solve the problem. …show more content…
They used “occupy” tactics to protest segregated bus terminals. They ignored the segregation signs and whites used the “colored” bathroom while the blacks used the “whites only” bathrooms. Many were arrested and unfortunately, some met with violent deadly white protests. One ended with white protestors catching a bus on fire with people on it, which got the attention of the world. This drew even more new Freedom Riders to the cause. After several months of Freedom Bus Rides, the Freedom Riders were victorious. In 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission put in place regulations prohibiting segregation in the interstate transit terminals. (Riders, Freedom …show more content…
Well, yes and no. If you look at the media showing protests of “Black lives matter” you would be under the impression that there is still a huge divide. But when you step away from the media, and just look around at the real world surrounding you, you see the progress. I remember in high school in the early nineties when a mix couple was a big faux pas. Today, you see mixed race families in commercials about life insurance, car insurance or what have you. I have several friends in my group that have mixed marriages and nothing ill is thought about it. It’s as normal as apple pie. This was unheard of just 30 years
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
We live in a country that has a pledge of allegiance that says “freedom for all” however black communities have not received their freedom. Freedom is defined as the power and right to act, speak, or think as one wants without any restraint. African Americans have not been allowed to enjoy any of these luxuries even after the end of slavery. African Americans had to face a variety of issues such as segregation, mass incarceration and poverty. These challenges continue to oppress African Americans, therefore, they still have to struggle to obtain freedom. Freedom in which they feel accepted anywhere and are exposed to the same opportunities and support as any other race. With leaders like, Reverend T. J. Jemison and W. E. B. DuBois, African Americans have been reminded and encouraged to keep striving through their life filled with struggles because they
Freedom Riders exposed the many ways of Southern resistance by the numerous acts of violence committed towards them. Violence was experienced not from civilians, police officers and a mass of Ku Klux Klan members (KKK). The Freedom riders faced bus bombings, being beaten, and near lynching. The Freedom Riders decided to unmask what was happening in the south to showcase the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions Morgan v. Virginia in 1946 and Boynton v. Virginia in 1960, which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional.The Southern states had ignored the rulings and the federal government did nothing to enforce them. "The Riders' dangerous passage through the bus terminals and jails of the Jim Crow South represented only one part of an extended journey for justice that stretched back to the dawn of American history and beyond" (Arsenault 10). The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) sponsored most of the Freedom Rides, but some were also organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The Freedom Rides consisted of dramatic sit-ins against segregated lunch counters, conducted by students and youth throughout the South, and boycotts of retail establishments that maintained segregated facilities, beginning in 1960.The Supreme Court's decision in Boynton supported the right of interstate travelers to disregard local segregation ordinances. Southern local and state police considered the actions of the Freedom Riders to be
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
In 1965 a group of students from Sydney University formed a group, called Student Action for Aborigines, that’s purpose was to draw attention to the inequality between white and indigenous Australia based in New South Wales. It also hoped to decrease the social discrimination between white Australia and indigenous Australia as well as give support to aboriginals to withstand the discrimination they face daily.
I want to pursue my graduate studies on history at Cal State Los Angeles. I gained an interest in history as a career. I’m going to become one of the children from my family to pursue this endeavor. I see history as important information which teaches to not repeat past errors for society in the 21st century. Furthermore I want to see what jobs I can do in my current condition, after being diagnosed for multiple schelrosis and asperger’s syndrome.
Who are the Freedom Riders you may ask? They were a courageous and daring group, which originally consisted of seven African Americans and six Whites.They fought for the equality and justice for their race. They fought against the racist South during the early 1960’s. Their goal was to make a safer and more fair world for current and future African Americans in the United States. They went through hardship and violence from things such as, angry mobs and racist law enforcement through a period of several months. The Freedom Riders risked their safety and put their lives in danger to impact the way society viewed African Americans and to make the United States fair and equal for all races not just white. There were many events that happened during the Freedom Rider’s protest throughout the deep South. But, the hardship payed off because the Freedom Riders made a huge impact on U.S. History and they also impacted the greater justice and equality for African Americans. The Freedom Riders also have an amazing story with major events and a very positive end result which helped out African Americans in the United States and they also help change how the government treated African Americans unfairly and did give them equal rights as White people had in the United States. The Freedom Riders changed everything for African Americans and gave them a positive future to look forward to.
The next goal in the movement was desegregation on public transportation. The Freedom Riders of 1961 were mostly young and evenly divided between whites and African Americans. Aboard two buses, the group drove through the South to test segregation laws through the use of non-violence. However, while driving through Alabama, the buses were attacked by a white mob. Though the Freedom Rides were short-lived, they inspired many others to participate in the civil rights movement.
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 Riders were groups of different riders of different ethnicities, religions, and backgrounds that rode the Greyhound and Trailways busses to fight against segregation. The freedom rides was an important part of the civil rights movement that helped lead to the success of the movement. The Freedom Riders of 1961, who faced constant racism and prejudice, were extremely important to the success of the civil rights movement by causing the federal government to uphold the laws already in place and integrate interstate travel.
The Freedom Riders made a series of bus trips in the summer of 1961 to set out and force legal gratification of the decision that declared segregation in railways and bus terminal accommodations illegal. (Burg) The emotional and physical strive and risks the Riders made to continue the ride, to ameliorate segregation. (Burg, Benson) The Riders were not blessings or heroes, but just common people who saw through the racism and resentment towards African Americans and chose to respond to the problem, risking their own lives, to make the nation a more adequate place for African Americans even though an abounding amount of problems faced them.
To describe the sit-ins, it's when members of the CORE organization would sit down in a public area, if they were asked to have to move they would simply remain seated. This was developed by the CORE in 1943. This strategy was mainly to against businesses that served to protesters to risk the disruption or losing business in the 1960's. However, young white people were very brutally, beating the protesters whose part of the sit in. Martin Luther King, Jr. started involving students in the sit-ins in the campus with the support of SCLC, however many of the participants were arrested and served in jail. Freedom Riders started out in 1961. As for banning the segregation, African Americans had tested their rights. A bus full of African American
It is hard to wrap my head around the fact that riding the bus can get one hurt and killed and how non-volient acts can lead to so much hate and violence. The Freedom Rides help bring attention to national level. The level of violence is extreme in response to a non-violent movement. The white supremacy was trying its best to make the colored population inferior. The segregation is a symbol of fear and hate. The press and television is a big part in the success of the movement. They help shape the public opinion toward segregation. The media brought the problem to our attention through dramatic and often disturbing photos and reports.
“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
These movements enormously affected black people , so that they hugely interacted with it and started to revolt and move towards their freedom driven by their robbed rights and injured dignity . In addition, many writers have a great role in these movements including Alice walker. Alice in her short story