Voices Of Freedom: An Oral History Of The Civil Rights Movement

In America, the reaction to the protest was very intense. Throughout the protest, the Freedom Riders came across violence and the reaction of the protest was ruthless. While having to delay their journey to change a slashed tire, “one bus was firebombed and the Freedom Riders were beaten (by a white mob). The second bus was similarly attacked and the passengers beaten”.11 In America, there was a Freedom Ride accompanied by the State Highway Patrol, taking their journey headed for Montgomery; but when “local police failed to protect them, they were again beaten”12.

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.

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

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

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.

The SNCC helped shed light on the southern civil rights movement first through student involvement in the 1961 Freedom Rides to protest segregation in interstate travel facilities in the south. The 1960 Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation in interstate travel facilities unconstitutional but racist fanatics brutally attacked black bus riders traveling throughout Alabama. (Jeffries) So African American Freedom Riders sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality, began riding buses and trains challenging the segregation of “whites only” bathrooms and other facilities forcing the Interstate Commerce Commission to begin

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

From blacks getting beaten and mobbed to setting the bus on fire. In 1961, the blacks along with others like white people, had enough of the inequality they had to go through. A group of people known as the Freedom Riders, set out on a journey to the deep south to violate laws. The riders were mistreated but they did not give up, they risked their lives and soon their prayer of freedom was answered.

Blacks have long endured the brutality of criticism because of their skin color. The Freedom Riders took on abuse and a burning bus to test the Court’s ruling, equal transportation for Blacks and Whites. Non-violent sit-ins were another step towards getting Blacks equal rights. Four African American college students walked up to a

The civil rights movement was not completely successful but it had done more than any other movement trying to gain rights and equality in the past. While you could argue that the civil rights movement had started from the times of slavery for the sake of this paper I will be referring to the civil right’s movement as the time period from the 1960s through 1980s. Now when looking at his era it is important to look at the culture of the American public, starting first with the 60s you get a sense of anti-government & anti-war that could relate to some of the things the black power movement was fighting. This is a time where you can find a sense of

This was unequal protection under the law. On May 20th,within 40 miles all sign of protection for the riders had disappeared. From Article 1, section 8 of the Constitution, gives Congress or the Federal government the authority and rights to organize the ICC, (the Interstate Commerce Commission.) The ICC was the desegregation of public transportation, busses can cross over state lines. Jim Lawson along with the other non violent protesters, had the right to protest, they were kept in jail, wrongly punished, taking part in the Lunch counter sit in starting in Greensboro. Did not receive dual process, The Habeas corpus is where a person may not be held by the government without a valid reason for being held.The whites who used force and violence did not get punished for their actions, nothing was thought of it. The Freedom Riders tactic was an interracial group ride through the south promoting the rights the supreme court said they could do. On Mother's Day, May 14th, the lead bus was firebombed, 12 rides hospitalized and the bus destroyed. The ride to Jacksonville was forced to protect the Constitutional Rights of the Freedom Riders, upon arrival the court accused the Riders of trespassing, they followed along with the plan to make sure they arrived safely, but they could chose to do whatever they wanted once the Riders were in their district. Other events that occurred during the Civil Rights Movement was in the Spring of 1960, sudden cease in the spending of money downtown with the intentions that pressure will change the rules and regulations. The National boycott spread to the North, and the whites started to become fearful. Throughout this time the African Americans remained calm, and continued to stand up for equality, they were determined to be free, violence was reported to

Throughout the 1960's, bus riding Freedom Riders, marchers, boycotters and other protesters continued their crusade for freedom but were met with fierce white and establishment resistance.

The Freedom Riders were a group of civil rights activists who wanted to test the law of segregation for public transportation. The group of riders were interracial, male and female, and consisted of students, leaders, and organizations who wanted to fight for civil rights. In 1960, the Supreme Court ruled segregation in interstate travel as unconstitutional, therefore these activists set out to test this law. Throughout 1961, the Freedom Riders rode buses into the deep southern states, which happened to be the most segregated. They wanted to see how the townspeople would react, by accepted or declining the new law. The results were terrifying and brutal, white mobs would chase the riders out, beating them, and forcing them to fear for their lives. The riders were ignored, after all the beatings, threats, and arrests, they still never backed down. They stood up for each other and their rights, which lead to their victory of desegregating transportation along with other public facilities, schools, and restaurants. These strong men and women define bravery, they have made a glorifying impact on society and have allowed equal rights to expand beyond belief, although nothing will ever change the struggles these riders went through.

The up to date dying of Rosa Parks refocused countrywide attention on one of the crucial beloved figures of the civil rights movement. However without the heroism of hundreds of unsung grass-roots activists, the action would not ever have complete what it did. In "Freedom Riders," Raymond Arsenault, a professor of history at the university of South Florida, rescues from obscurity the guys and women who, at high-quality individual threat, rode public buses into the South as a way to venture segregation in interstate travel. Drawing on individual papers, F.B.I. Documents and interviews with more than 200 contributors within the rides, Arsenault brings vividly to life a defining moment in modern American history.

The American Civil Rights Movement is personified through several prominent personalities. These figures exhibited strong character throughout their careers in activism that revolutionized the ideals and opportunities of the 20th century, standing as precedents for courage and perseverance in the face of widespread systemic oppression. However, not all of these figures received the acknowledgment and acceptance that their legacy deserved. One such figure was Bayard Rustin, a lifelong Civil Rights activist in the African American and LGBTQ communities whose experiences exemplified the hardships faced by American minorities. His career was defined by perpetual conflict and confrontation as both sides of the Civil Rights Movement attempted to demonize and discredit him. Despite this obstacle, Bayard Rustin’s controversial decision-making and sheer tenacity made him an influential force in the ongoing fight for equality in the United States of America.