The Importance Of Freedom Rides

In the 1960’s, black and white individuals were not recognized as being equal. The two races were treated differently, and the African Americans did not enjoy the same freedoms as the whites. The African Americans never had a chance to speak their mind, voice their opinions, or enjoy the same luxuries that the white people attained. Through various actions/efforts like the lunch counter sit-ins, freedom rides, and bus boycotts, the black people confronted segregation face on and worked to achieve equality and freedom.

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

Another tactic used in the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) was challenging state laws about the mixing of multiple races. This strategy was put to the test in 1961 when eight white men and eight african americans rode interstate buses through Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky, triggering harassment and arrest. An original intention of this action, also known as the Journey for Reconciliation, was to raise awareness towards the organization CORE and help society realize how segregation was affecting the struggling communities. (Zunes and Laird 2010, The US Civil Rights Movement (1942-1968).) CORE, although a consistently small organization, made the freedom rides successful by conducting multiple sit-ins, such as Chicago in 1942, St. Lewis in 1949, and Baltimore in 1959. They also collaborated with the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) in 1947 for the first freedom ride. (Zunes and Laird 2010, The US Civil Rights Movement (1942-1968).) However, even with CORE executing these plans, there were still some amazing and bold leaders fighting in and out of the sit-ins. James Lawson passed his powerful beliefs on along with the principles of Gandhian nonviolence to train potential future front runners. He also became the field secretary for FOR and in his time there arranged the Nashville Student Movement's sit-in campaign of 1960. Another key figure in the freedom rides was Joseph Perkins from Owensboro, Kentucky, the Field Secretary of CORE starting from 1960. He was

The African American Civil Rights Movement officially “began” in 1954, but the ideas of Civil Rights had been brewing since the end of the Civil War, and even earlier. The Civil Rights Movement was centered on the idea of the equal, fair, and constitutional treatment of African Americans in the United States. The movement features some of history’s most prominent figures, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks. Throughout the movement, activists utilized protests, marches, boycotts, and strikes in attempts to change public opinion and governmental action on African Americans. The movement succeeded in overturning

African Americans have been struggling for equality for many decades. It only seems that during the 1960?s is when there were actual significant advances made. This was about the same time that civil rights came into the political scene. Throughout the South, Blacks were still in the majority, but had no political power what so ever. The Civil Rights Movement gave African Americans a voice and a chance to make a difference. The 1960's helped open up hope and expectations for Black Americans.

     Being an African American in the United States during the civil rights movement was one of toughest times to live through. The African American felt as if they were treated as non-humans being sent to the United States as slaves, being deprived of their education, forced to live in separate segregated areas, and given the careers that were the lowest paying jobs. They also had no political rights or legal protection. After the North had fought for the African American population to gain freedom from slavery, they were abandoned and were forced to fight for themselves. The Blacks were then left with much ambivalence in regard on how they would go about achieving civil rights. During this time was

First, African American leaders argued that everyone should be treated equally. They wanted black African American men to be able to vote just like the white American men did. The whites refused to allow the blacks to vote. They threatened and beat the blacks, the “Jim Crow” laws blocked them from doing anything and everything For example, bathrooms, trains, and in busses they were forced to sit in the back. African American activists held nonviolent protests to bring change. Some of the more popular activist leaders were Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks. Unlike Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, Malcolm X held violent protests. One of the more popular marches that took place during the voting rights act was the Selma to Montgomery. There were about 550 people marching. The march bought a lot of public support for the Civil Rights Movement. African Americans were given outrageous literacy tests. For example, the literacy test we were given in class was from the State of Louisiana. It stated that the test is to be given to anyone who cannot prove a fifth grade education. The test was given to every African American, even if they didn’t speak any english. This was just one

In the year of 1961, civil rights activists gathered and traveled together on buses to the segregated areas in the southern part of the United States.

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.

In 1960-1980, many new advancements were out in the world. Still women were expected to stay home. Women were frowned upon when they got jobs or didn’t marry. African Americans were the poorest living in slums. Other races were treated the same. This was the time of the Civil Rights movement. Whites killed African Americans for doing what they considered wrong in the south. African Americans earned the rights they wanted, to the dismay of the whites.

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

Occurring before the time of the KKK’s start of their attacks were the Freedom Rides looking for racial equality on the transportation services. Raymond Arsenault discusses in his book Freedom Riders 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice that the Freedom Rides began after the blacks were forced to give up their bus seat, so that whites could sit, Irene Morgan first experienced this when she was forced by the driver to remove herself from the seat in 1944 (14). Arsenault finds that the rides made their way all of the south of the United States going from Florida to Northern Virginia toward the west in Illinois and through Missouri and heading as west as Texas and California (220-221). John A. Kirk writes in his article “Battle Cry of Freedom: Little Rock, Arkansas and The Freedom Riders at Fifty” that the riders were surged on by the Congress of Racial Equality(CORE). The riders route was planned to ride from St, Louis, Little Rock, Shreveport, and finally stopping in New Orleans. They would later leave New Orleans headed

On 1961, seven African American and 6 white man civil rights activists made the freedom rides group. The freedom ride was a bus trips through the American south to protest. The goal was to draw lots of attention to and incite federal action against the non-enforcement in the segregated south of the Supreme Court decisions Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia and Boynton v. Virginia, which ruled segregated public buses to be unconstitutional. The freedom writers were recruited by the c.o.r.e, a civil rights movement from Washington D.C. John Lewis is one of the original groups of 13 Freedom Riders, and he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 1989. The freedom riders were on their way to the Deep South. On may 14 when

Protest against injustice is deeply rooted in the African American experience. The origins of the civil rights movement date much further back than the 1954 Supreme Court ruling on Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka which said, "separate but equal" schools violated the Constitution. From the earliest slave revolts in this country over 400 years ago, African Americans strove to gain full participation in every aspect of political, economic and social life in the United States.

As a response, the Congress of Racial Equality—also known as CORE—and the Fellowship of Reconciliation decided to arrange interracial and bus rides across state lines. The Journey of Reconciliation, as they were called, decided to focus on the rampant bus segregation of the upper South, but avoided the more dangerous and risky areas of the deep south. Unfortunately, there was a lack of media attention and, ultimately, CORE's goals and rides went unnoticed. In 1961, however, new—and successful—Freedom Rides were actualized. CORE partnered with student activists to continue previous efforts made to fight segregated bus rides and bus terminals. On May 4, 1961, two buses began the trip from Washington DC to New Orleans. They riders were met with little resistance and violence until they arrived in Rockhill, South Carolina. There were many violent beatings and arrests of the riders. The events in Rockhill, South Carolina initiated the national media coverage of the rides. On May 14, the Freedom Rides arrived in Anniston, Alabama. There, the riders were met with a violent mob of regular citizens and Ku Klux Klan members. Local authorities, lead by Birmingham Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene “Bull” Connor—who was known as an