Often times I catch myself looking back at our nations participation in racism, discrimination and segregation as ancient history. Then I am quickly reminded that our nations dark past was eerily not that long ago. In my resent discovery, I have found the PBS documentary on the "Freedom Riders" of 1961 to be very educational as well as heartbreaking. This documentary best captures the ways of the south and the cruelty that was done to the innocent passengers.
CORE, the Congress Of Racial Equality was a group of black and white activists from the northern states. In 1961, the group made plans to ride on integrated buses from Washington D.C. to New Orleans, deliberately breaking the "laws of the south". This was a simple but daring plan to challenge people and establishments in the south participating in racial segregation. Their hope for their two week trip was to raise awareness of how blacks were treated in the south and start a National Movement. The CORE went through what they describe as training for what might happen on their trip to the south. When interviewed before the trip, they spoke confidently that they were prepared for what was to come, they were not.
On May 14th 1961, two buses, one Greyhound and the other trailways, set off to make it to Alabama, one did not make it. When this bus made it to Birmingham, there was a mob waiting for them full of white southerners. They blocked the bus to a dead stop in the street, and proceeded to light it on fire with the riders still inside. Soon smoke filled the bus and they fled to the street gasping for air where the majority were greeted with physical abuse. One man was hit in the head by a baseball bat. Miraculously and not to be viewed as foreshadowing of upcoming events, a young white girl found this action to be cruel and provided water to the people coughing up smoke and ash. Suddenly as if the bell had rang for playtime to be over, an officer fired into the air and broke up the massacre, and said "Okay you've had your fun, lets back up" and the riders were stranded.
The second of the two buses, arrived in Birmingham later and was met by the KKK, who's leaders had an arrangement with local police to have 15 minutes of freedom with the riders. The southerners saw this as war on their customs and beliefs to paraphrase a southern woman. The FBI headed by J Edgar Hoover, who is known to be a powerful man of the time simply looked the other way towards this event. Again the riders were met with violent force and led a few leaders of the group to the hospital. Despite the CORE wanting to continue the following day, they couldn't find anyone to driver their bus. After waiting in limbo for several hours, representatives from the JFK administration flew down to Alabama to fly the riders to New Orleans. This was the first sign of support from the government and JFK administration who was much more concerned with the cold war and missile crisis than civil rights. For the CORE the rides were over, however they had made an impact and raised awareness like they had hoped.
For some people like Diane Nash, that impact just wasn't enough. Nash, a student at the time of Fisk University was quoted saying "If we stop the freedom rides, the message will have been sent that you could stop integration with violence" therefore she believed the rides needed to continue. She became the coordinator of the second group of freedom riders that set out on May 16th. The second wave of riders was made up of black and white students who dropped out in the midst of finals and graduation to participate in this movement. An Attorney General called Diane the night before they left and told her to stop, and warned her that someone will die if this continues. Nash a very soft spoken young woman told him that they were prepared to do what it takes, and that they signed their last wills. Moved by her persistence, he called a meeting with Bobby Kennedy, Governor Patterson of Alabama and Patterson's head of defense. In this meeting he told the men that the state of Alabama needed to provide full support to the riders and Governor Patterson complied that he would do so. The buses of student riders arrived in Birmingham and to their surprise they were unharmed and the police escorted them the next station in Montgomery.
Here, they came upon what seemed to be a dead town and thought they were in the clear yet again. However, crowds multiplied into thousands as they exited the buses and they were given one of the worst beatings yet. The 21 integrated students faced death that day in Montgomery. Later in the evening the students took refuge in a church with Dr. Martin Luther King, where he lectured a full house to support the riders. The church was soon surrounded by angry white activists and the KKK threatening to torch the church. Meanwhile the JFK administration is under the impression that Governor Patterson is doing his job and providing these students with protection. Within hours the United States Marshals were there and forced Patterson to sign Marshal law stating that he could no longer control this situation and it was not in the hands of the government. Over the next few days Montgomery was home to over a 1000 military men and US Marshals. With news of this sweeping the nation the freedom riders wanted to keep moving down towards their goal of New Orleans.
The students urged Dr. King to join them on the buses and help head the movement but he declined. Receiving much criticism Dr. King felt that his duty was to stay, and the students lost some hope in his commitment. An arrangement was made by JFK and Mississippi Senator that once the riders arrived in Mississippi that they would be arrested for disturbing the peace. The idea behind this was to teach the students a lesson, however the students saw right through this and it didn't work. Word quickly spread and there was a movement to fill the state prisons with these freedom riders. Bus loads came down knowing that they would be arrested and thrown in jail, eventually hundreds were jailed from all over the country. The idea was to raise awareness to the nation that the south refused to integrate and it had worked. Eventually the riders were released from prison and shortly after the ICC took down signs segregating the south. This was a huge step in the civil rights movement.
Many things can be taken from the story of the freedom riders and their characteristics as activist. At this time the country was faced with very different cultures in the North and South. Let it be known that it was illegal to have a segregated south, however the government overlooked their cruelty towards blacks for basic political reasons. The North and South was in a way separated by new age and old age ideas.
This idea goes back to the civil war in the United States, and the southern refusal for defeat and conformity. In the 60's when this took place and unfortunately in some parts of the south today, you were a non equal if you were anything other than a white Christian. As a white citizen of the true south, to have buses show up in your neighbor hood with black and white people on them, might as well have been blasphemy. What made these rides unique was that it elaborated on the southern hatred for black people and it showed that a white person interacting with blacks as equals would be shown the same disrespect. A very traditional and proud society like the south, was and still is very hard to break and get through to. These riders knew they had to provide a message to not only the south and the United States, but to the world. Doing so, with zero to none political power and influence was their handicap.
With that said, these riders were essentially everyday people and eventually young college students who in the eyes of the nation were just looking for trouble. However, the members of CORE and the second wave of the movement were smart and knew that to impact the evils of segregation, they needed to go to the heart of the south. In a sense they sort of rolled the dice and said, let it ride, no pun intended. The element that this wasn't activists that we know today like Dr. King or Melcolm X makes this that much more real. Everyday people wanted to make a difference went out to raise this awareness.
Some of the things I found to be most profound in this story is the little recognition and respect it got from government officials at first. JFK, who is in the thick of it with the Soviet Union, couldn't care less about this movement. Sure he campaigned that civil rights were important and he would fight against these evils of the south he didn't support or acknowledge the freedom riders until almost the end. I know how dare I criticize JFK, but I think it is important to be critical of history. I am also beside myself to learn that Governor Patterson of Alabama gives total disregard to a direct order from the United States government to protect the students. This is a direct result of how elected officials are not always elected because they are the best at their jobs, it has to do with political influence. This message should be viewed by today's voters especially the young, to know who you are electing and why.
The Freedom Riders documentary tells a piece of history that is unfortunately not as common a story as one would hope. It shows the resilience and persistence of the riders and their ability to achieve positive results on one common goal. It can be argued that this was one of the first major eye openers in the Civil Rights movement and it is properly documented that way. Whether it's the Freedom Riders of '61 or today's members of Occupy Wall Street, awareness, and progress can always be made.
Freedom Riders documentary, PBS.
Nice job. Thanks.
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