The Movement Of The Freedom Riders Movement, And Nonviolent Social Change

In Thoreau 's essay Civil Disobedience he makes the point that bystanders are just as bad as criminals and that people should stand against unjust crimes even if it means going against the law. And to some extent I do agree because in the past people have broken unjust laws and have created change. A well-known example would be when Rosa Parks sat on the bus in the "White-only" seating area, which lead to important events that helped push the Civil Rights movement forward. But I think that it depends on which laws they choose to break and how far they choose to go with it.

Racism has been an ongoing problem for decades, but now it has evolved into more complications rather than black people versus white people and wanting equality.

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.

In the books, A Nation Forged in War: How World War II Taught Americans to Get Along by Thomas Bruscino and Freedom’s Main Line: The Journey of Reconciliation and the Freedom Rides by Derek Charles Catsam, both focus on the subject of racism, religious tolerance, and segregation. Although both books deal with the same topic the authors have different opinions toward what was the cause of the beginning of bringing these matters to an end. These are a few of the reasons the authors give for their opinions on the subject.

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

During the Freedom Riders’ travels, they encounter plenty of angry mobs willing to kill anyone in support of the rights of African Americans being moved forward. Regardless of race, many Riders have been mercilessly beaten. A recent incident involved Jim Zwerg, originally from Wisconsin, who was sympathetic to the movement. He boarded a bus with a group of Freedom Riders in Nashville and got off in Montgomery. As he was leaving the bus, an angry mob of segregationists attacked him, and beat him to a pulp. This is just one of many examples of the violence that this decidedly non-violent movement faced. Due to the common extreme violence that happens, the media is very engaged in the movement. Reporters often capture pictures of the unsolicited

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.

The strategy and success of the Civil Right’s Movement was the ability to promote and implement nonviolent tactics in the fight for freedom and equal justice. The three types of nonviolent tactics that were used during the Civil Right’s Movement were conceived by Gene Sharp and included “protest and persuasion,” “methods of noncooperation,” and “nonviolent intervention,” (Chapter 6, P.146. "The Act of Disruption" from Engler & Engler This is an uprising: How nonviolent revolt is shaping the 21st century.) Each tactic was used and executed by the group for a specific purpose in helping to relay their message of equal rights, freedom and justice. Examples of how these tactics were orchestrated and carried can be seen in this week’s video, “No Easy Walk,” (No easy walk 1961–1963: Eyes on the prize—America’s Civil Rights Movement 1954–1985 [Video file]. (1994). Retrieved September 5, 2017, from

Nearly 200 years ago, after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, slavery was no longer allowed; but America was still segregated. Segregation in many public places continued especially in the South. At this time, segregation was legal. In 1892, the Supreme Court had ruled that a state could separate whites and blacks as long as the services were equal. On May 4, 1961, a diverse group of thirteen courageous individuals known as the Freedom Riders embarked on a bus journey into the South in order to challenge segregation in bus terminals.

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.

In the graphic novel March Book One by John Lewis, there are many forms of activism that helped change the lives of several African Americans. Sit- ins and boycotts were two famous forms of nonviolent activism used by Blacks.

In 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. The focus of his efforts was to register black voters in the South. Protesters attempting to march from Selma to the state capital were met with violent resistance by authorities. The violence forced President Johnson to introduce a federal voting-rights bill. Johnson introduced the bill in a speech to Congress, and using the language of Civil Rights singers saying, "We shall overcome." This was a legal decision that would shape public education from that time on.

Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. By Raymond Arsenault New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. In the book, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, historian Raymond Arsenault, writes about the six month between the spring and summer of 1961 where four hundred and fifty men and women rode segregated buses in the south. Their mission was to defy the non-enforcement of the Supreme Court decisions that ruled segregated public buses were unconstitutional, and how majority of white southerners did not observe these laws.

A key factor in the success of the Civil Rights Movement was the idea of using non-violent resistance. Non-violent resistance is the method of accomplishing one's goal by protest, civil disobedience, economic or political non-cooperation, satyagraha, and other practices that do not involve any violence. Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr.’s non-violent resistance was inspired by the guidance of the Indian Leader Mahatma Gandhi. Throughout the 1930s and 40s, Mahatma Gandhi led India's independence from the British rule by communicating to them softly, stirring speeches, and many non-violent protests. He is one of the 20th century's most important figures and continues to be admired in India as a father of the society. King says that

Non- violent movements are a way for groups of people to achieve change and create an impact in the society. The labor, African American, and Vietnam anti-war peace movements were significantly successful in abolishing harsh working conditions, gaining civil rights for blacks, and withdrawing from the Vietnam War (Upchurch). Non-violent and violent movements have been used throughout history to evoke change in the society, obtain equality, civil rights, and peace. While violent protest result in the same changes, non-violent methods can ultimately go beyond local violent protest, spread nationally through movements, and protest without requiring violence. These events because of the non-violent