First Freedom Ride (1961)

Thu May 04, 1961

Image

Image: Freedom Riders preparing to board a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, May 24th, 1961 [britannica.com]

On this day in 1961, the first Freedom Ride, a form of civil disobedience that defied a de facto ban on segregation in the American South, left Washington D.C., headed for New Orleans, Louisiana.

Freedom Riders rode interstate busses into the segregated Southern United States starting in 1961 to challenge the Southern non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions Morgan v. Virginia (1946) and Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which ruled that segregated public busses were unconstitutional.

Participants, women and men both black and white, journeyed into the deep south, testing segregated bus terminals. The riders were often met with severe violence. In Anniston, Alabama, one of the busses was fire-bombed and passengers were beaten by a white mob. White mobs also attacked Freedom Riders in Birmingham and Montgomery.

These violent incidents garnered national attention, sparking a summer of similar rides by CORE, SNCC and other civil rights organizations, among thousands of ordinary citizens.

  • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
    7·
    5 days ago

    Hang on, they defied a ban on segregation?

    So they were Segregationists? Ya’ll are celebtrating segregation?

    edit: no I read the rest of the post and I think that must be a typo.