| The Freedom Rides (1947-1961) |
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Sections:- Members of the Journey of Reconciliation (1947)
- U.S. Supreme Court: BOYNTON v. VIRGINIA, 364 U.S. 454 (1960)
- James Farmer: Letter to President Kennedy (1961)
- Map: The First Weeks of the Freedom Rides (1961)
- Firebombed Bus in Anniston, Alabama (1961)
- John Lewis and Jim Zwerg Following Montgomery, Alabama Beating (1961)
- Martin Luther King, Jr.: Statement Delivered at a Rally to Support the Freedom Rides (21 May 1961)
- Robert Kennedy speaks with John Seigenthaler (1961)
- Dr. David Frankhauser: Recollections of the Freedom Rides
- Mr. Fred Clark, Sr.: Interview by Leesha Faulkner about his Freedom Ride Experiences
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| Historical Context
In early 1947, CORE announced plans to send eight white and eight black men into the upper South to test the Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation in interstate travel unconstitutional. This integrated team of sixteen people with George Houser and Bayard Rustin as the organizers, set out on the Journey of Reconciliation, a two week pilgrimage through Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky on Greyhound and Trailway buses. The Journey of Reconciliation achieved a great amount of attention and was the foundation for the many direct action campaigns led by CORE in the future. In fact, in February 1948 the Council Against Intolerance in America gave Houser and Bayard Rustin the Thomas Jefferson Award for the Advancement of Democracy for their attempts to bring an end to segregation in interstate travel.
Questions to consider
1)Why is this event significant?
2)How did it pave the way for the Civil Rights Movement?
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| Historical Context
Boynton v. Virginia, 364 U.S. 454 (1960) was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. The case overturned a judgment convicting an African American law student for trespassing by being in a restaurant in a bus terminal which was "whites only." It held that racial segregation in public transportation was illegal because such segregation violated the Interstate Commerce Act, which broadly forbade discrimination in interstate passenger transportation. It moreover held that bus transportation was sufficiently related to interstate commerce to allow the United States Federal government to regulate it to forbid racial discrimination in the industry.
Attached Document
Included here is the Supreme Court of Boynton v. Virgina.
Questions to consider
1)What is the main issue of this case?
2)Upon what legislation does the Court base its decision?
3)What cases does it use as precedent?
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| Historical Context
This letter dated 4/26/61 from James Farmer to President Kennedy was about the upcoming Freedom Ride, "designed to forward the completion of integrated bus service and accommodations in the Deep South."
Questions to consider
1)Of what does this letter inform the President?
2)How does Farmer describer their group? What methods do they employ?
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| Historical Context
This map outlines the route and events of the first few weeks of the Freedom Rides.
Questions to consider
1)Why is the route taken by the Freedom Riders significant?
2)How would you expect the journey experience to be different if the route went through northern states?
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| Historical Context
In Anniston, Alabama, a white mob awaited the arrival of the first bus bearing the Freedom Riders at the Greyhound station. As it arrived, they attacked the bus with iron pipes and baseball bats and slashed its tires. The terrified bus driver hastily drove out of the station, but the punctured tires forced the bus to pull off the road in a rural area outside of Anniston. The white mob that pursued the bus fire bombed it and held the doors shut preventing riders from exiting the burning bus. Finally an undercover policeman drew his gun, and forced the doors to be opened. The mob pulled the Freedom Riders off the bus and beat them with iron pipes. The bus became completely engulfed in flames, and was completely destroyed.
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| Historical Context
On May 21, 1961, the surviving contingent of Riders headed from Birmingham to Montgomery, protected by a contingent of the Alabama State Highway Patrol. However, when they reached the Montgomery city limits, the Highway Patrol abandoned them. At the bus station was waiting a large white mob that viciously beat them with baseball bats and iron pipes. The local police allowed the beatings to go on uninterrupted. Again, white Freedom Riders, branded "Nigger-Lovers," were singled out for particularly brutal beatings. There is a famous picture of Jim Zwerg with blood running all down his suit. Justice Department official Seigenthaler was beaten and left unconscious lying in the street. Ambulances refused to take the wounded to the hospital. Brave local blacks rescued them, and a number of the Freedom Riders were hospitalized.
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Attached Document
In this speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. expressed his support for the Freedom Rides and condemned the violence against the riders in Anniston, Birmingham and Montgomery.
Questions to consider
1)Who does King claim bears the ultimate responsibility for the violence in Alabama?
2)What does he suggest as the solution to the violence in the Deep South?
3)What does he advocate in terms of reprisals, or non-reprisals?
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| Historical Context
When reports of the bus burning and beating reached Attorney General Robert Kennedy, he urged restraint on the part of Freedom Riders and sent an assistant, John Seigenthaler, to Montgomery, Alabama to observe the Freedom Riders' arrival in that city which was to happen shortly.
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Attached Document
In the following passages, Dr. David Frankhauser recalls his experiences on the Freedom Rides. At age 19, he went to Alabama from Ohio to join the Freedom Rides, and was eventually arrested.
Questions to consider
1)What kind of protection was given to the Freedom Riders?
2)How were the waiting rooms in the bus station different for whites and “coloreds”?
3)As a white man, how was Frankhauser treated differently from the black Freedom Riders? Once the blacks and whites were in the same cell block, how were they treated the same?
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Attached Document
This is an interview for the Mississippi Oral History Program of The University of Southern Mississippi. The interview is with Mr. Fred Clark Sr. and is taking place on June 10, 1994. The interviewer is Leesha Faulkner. Clark joined the Freedom Rides after meeting with Martin Luther King. In this oral history interview, he recalls his experiences with the event.
Questions to consider
1)How did his experience in jail compare with that of Dr. Frankhauser? (see above)
2)How were the black prisoners treated by guards? How were they treated by other prisoners?
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