Why were the Freedom Riders important? They created a way to show racist people in the south that they were equal, it showed the importance becoming an equal and not a separated nation. They began the Freedom Rides to celebrate ¨ Brown vs. the board of education,¨ but it became an essential piece of the civil rights movement. The Freedom Rides were mainly organized by the Congress of Racial Equality; they recreated the trips as they had done before in “1946 when the case of Morgan v. Virginia declared that segregated buses were unconstitutional.” These extraordinary people were truly hated in the deep south because they tried using white-only bathrooms and diners, and many southerners persecuted and got them arrested because they didn't …show more content…
On May 14th, the greyhound bus arrived and there were 200 white people waiting to attack the bus and the Freedom Riders. This caused the bus driver to not stop in the terminal, and continue straight with the mob of people were following the bus. As the bus continued, the cars of angry people followed, but the tires on the bus were wearing out. They busted, and the mob started attacking the bus. One man threw a bomb on the bus, and the people on the bus fortunately escaped. Unfortunately, they escaped only to be beaten up by the mob of people outside. Sadly, the same thing happened to the second bus when it arrived in Birmingham, Alabama. With the police knowing what happened in Anniston, the bus had no police awaiting for them in the terminal. The Freedom Riders were left to fend for themselves. Later, they asked the police why was there no police representation and they were told that no one was working because it was Mother’s Day. Both incidents appeared in national news papers, and it showed the burning buses and the bloody people beaten senseless. This caused the the freedom riders to get angry and wanted to do more rides to the …show more content…
Once the news spread about the greyhound buses, the Congress of Racial Equality couldn't find a driver to take the Freedom Riders anywhere. During that time, Robert Kennedy and the governor, John Paterson, of Alabama came to an agreement that every bus would be escorted by federal police to secure the safety of the driver and the people. On May 20th of 1961, a bus left for Montgomery, Alabama and right before the bus arrived to the terminal, the police escort left it alone. When the bus arrived, there was a large, angry mob of white people waiting with baseball bats and other objects. It was so chaotic that General Attorney Kennedy had to send 600 federal Marshals to restore order. The next day Martin Luther King Jr. held a service in a church to support the Freedom Rides, but outside there was a huge, angry mob. It became so chaotic that MLK called Robert Kennedy to send help. He sent marshals who used tear gas to separate the mob
Racial segregation in public transportation was now illegal, therefore the Freedom Riders wanted to determine whether this law was being enforced. On May 14th African-American's decided to sit wherever they chose to on the bus. Many white supremacists acted upon this and started throwing
The event that I have chosen is the Freedom Rides, which started May 4, 1961 and ended December 10, 1961. The Freedom Rides were inspired by the Greensboro Sit-ins, and started with 13 African American and Caucasian protestors riding buses into the segregated south to challenge the lack of enforcement to the Supreme Court ruling that segregated buses were unconstitutional. While the activists were peaceful the local law enforcement and people against their message were not. The activists were beaten at several stops along their journey from Anniston to Birmingham with chains, bricks, and bats by Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members in Alabama, and activists that were injured would be refused hospital treatment. Bull Connor, Commissioner of Public Safety
In the aftermath, thousands of black protesters gathered at the scene of the bombing. When the police went to break up the protests, violence broke out across the city. Many people were arrested and two young African American men died before the National Guard was called in and restored order. Also, the bombing impacted the support to end segregation greatly and adding more support from many angry people because of the four innocent little girl’s
In September 1963 four little girls from Birmingham, Alabama, were killed by a bomb that was planted by white supremacists at the 16th St. Baptist Church. Over 20 African Americans were injured. The children were as young as 7 or 8 years old. Even after such tragedy, children continued their efforts to end segregation by marching with Martin Luther King Jr.
Throughout the Freedom Rides, the authorities never really helped the riders. They would begin to protect them and wind up abandoning the group when the whites would come to attack. These attacks wouldn’t be stopped until Attorney General Kennedy sent large amounts of marshals to stop the violence. Kennedy seemed to be one of the only ones who wanted to help protect the riders, so when they were under attack they would call him and ask for his help. He would send federal marshals, who actually at one riot, filled the white mob with tear gas.
Many people were hopping onto freight trains to travel to the next city in hopes of finding work. A website and museum dedicated to the Scottsboro boys described the event which led to their imprisonment. A museum and organization that speaks on the boys lives and what injustice they had said that on March 25, 1931 nine black teens ages thirteen to nineteen and many other people were aboard a freight train heading South (“History”). A famous author and historian said a fight broke out when a white male stepped on Haywood Patterson 's hand. A stone throwing fight ensued.
Huge sums of whites would surround the greyhound bus and brutally beat the freedom riders as they got off. Throughout time, “The rides continued […] under pressure from the Kennedy administration, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregation in interstate transit terminals (Freedom Rides, history.com)”. Discrimination was still continuing and the demand for equality was rising higher. The March on Washington brought many civil rights organizations together on August 28, 1963. More than a quarter million people showed up, and marched from the Washington monument to the Lincoln memorial in protest and celebration.
The Freedom Riders left Birmingham that Saturday on, May 20, they had been promised police protection, but after ninety miles from the city limits the police disappeared. When they reached Montgomery, angry white mobs was everywhere. Floyd Mann, Director of Public Safety for the state of Alabama, tried to stop the mob, but they continued to beat the Riders and those who came to their aid. Mann finally had to order in state troopers. When news of the Montgomery attack reached the White House, Robert Kennedy decided to send federal marshals to the
Though the suspect was found, people in the area saw shutting down the city as unnecessary. It caused thousands of kids to miss school, economic costs issues linked with shutting down public transportation, and many of the working class people who need their wages were not paid that
They arranged this rally to protest the several workers that were killed by the police the day before. Later on in the rally the police showed up at the Haymarket square to get rid of the rally. Once they started to come closer to the workers a person within the crowd threw a pipe bomb(to this day he is still unidentified). The police and also some members of the crowd opened fire and chaos broke out. Seven police officers and at least one civilian died as a result of the violence that day, and an untold number of other people were
A version of this review appears in print on May 16, 2011, on page C3 of the New York edition with the headline: Voices From the Buses on the Road to Civil Rights. Order Reprints| Today 's Paper|Subscribe Continue reading the main
The impact of the Freedom riders, a group of civil rights activist, on the civil rights movement and the abolishment of interstate transport segregation has been extensively debated. The freedom riders were launched during the spring of 1961, created by the congress of racial equality. They would travel buses from Washington, D.C., to Jackson, Mississippi, the riders would sit on white seats in protest of segregation. Whilst opinions differ although most people agree, the evidence strongly supports that the contributions of the Freedom Riders have had a long-lasting effect on the civil rights movement. Through media coverage, political standings, creating crucial roles that need to be filled, the Journey of Reconciliation, the freedom riders
On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people marched to support freedom. They marched up and down Constitution and Independence avenues in Washington D.C. before the long awaited speech. They wanted to listen to the dream that Martin Luther King Jr. had, and they wanted to be the people to make that dream real. The March on Washington was an important part of the Civil Rights Movement, including the “I Have a Dream” speech. The effects of this event can still be seen today, and have changed how our nation has developed.
The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 by Tim Madigan illustrated the horrendous racial conflict between the white and black people of Tulsa on May 31st and June 1st of 1921. Madigan detailed how white mobs burned the entire community of Greenwood, an African-American community in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The race riot was triggered by the arrest of a young black man for a false accusation of assault by a white woman in an elevator. White supremacist groups gathered to lynch the accused black man, Diamond Dick. African American people gathered to defend the accused black man from being murdered by the white mobs.
The freedom riders proved a point to show the strength of the black race, but caused a divide as the white race became threatened and ---more