Freedom+Rides


 * Freedom Rides

The freedom ride was when many Civil Rights activist got together and rode interstate buses into the segregated south to test the United States Supreme court Boynton vs Virginia decision. This freedom ride was influenced by the Journey of Reconciliation in 1947, led by activists Bayard Rustin and George Houser. The Freedom Ride start on May 5th 1961, led by James Farmer. There were thirteen rider in all, seven black and six white. They all left with the intentions of riding through Virginia, The Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. They made every white person pair up with a black person on the bus to show that they were not at all interested in segregation. There were many violence attacks against the freedom riders, especially in Alabama. Many people were beaten and attacked because they were apart of the freedom ride. Alabama planned to send the freedom riders back to were they came from when they first heard of the freedom ride. They wanted to stop the ride in that town. The violence has gotten so out of hand that the bus was set of fire and people were holding the doors so that the freedom rider would not be able to exit and they would burn alive. Although many people disagree, it is said that there was an exploding fuel tank or a fire of a gum from a freedom rider that made the mob retreat and the freedom riders able to escape. Many thought that if the patrol men hadn't gotten involved in the violence many of the freedom riders would be lynched. **