In the house with the 32-year-old civil rights leader are 17 studentsfresh-faced college kids who, moved by King’s message of racial equality, are putting their lives at risk. ~ Source: Reprinted with the permission of the DC Public Library, Star Collection, © Washington Post Greyhound Bus Station (1950-60), 1100 New York Avenue NW, where Freedom Riders launched their "test ride" on May 4, 1961, ~ Source: Courtesy of The Historical Society of Washington, D.C. In the kitchen of a safe house in Montgomery, Ala., Martin Luther King Jr.
Media Images Freedom Riders on their way from New York to D.C., May 1961 ~ Source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division Freedom Riders plan their trip from DC to southern states, early May 1961. An ICC order imposing penalties for ignoring the prohibition went into effect November 1, 1961. Kennedy to petition the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce the prohibition against discrimination in interstate travel. The rides, and the international attention they garnered, impelled U.S. The Freedom Ride movement lasted through 1961. But efforts at upholding the law were just beginning.
#Freedom riders drivers#
As reported by James Farmer, Alabama law officials “stood idly by while mobs overruled the law of the land and desecrated the face of our Nation before the world.” When an Alabama State Police escort was cancelled by the Governor, and bus drivers refused to continue the journey, the test ride ended. Riders encountered intense violence and some were hospitalized. In Anniston, Alabama, the Greyhound bus was firebombed while in nearby Birmingham, the Trailways bus was ambushed by an angry mob. On the fifth day, however, as black riders attempted to use a “whites only” restroom at the bus station in Rock Hill, South Carolina, the troubles began. The trip was destined for New Orleans, with stops in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.įor the first five days, the trip went smoothly. Among the riders were James Farmer, CORE’s executive director, and James Peck, a white journalist who acted as CORE’s chief publicist. On May 4, 1961, six of them boarded a bus at the Greyhound station at 1100 New York Avenue NW, while another six boarded a bus at the nearby Trailways station. They were to dress well, behave as teachers and role models, and mingle with other passengers. The volunteers, committed to non-violence, were trained to handle racial situations that could arise during the trip through the Deep South. Virginia that prohibited segregation in bus terminals and restaurants serving interstate passengers.įor its test ride in 1961, CORE staff chose volunteers representing different races, ages, genders, regions, and backgrounds. The trip, organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), was planned to test individual states’ compliance with the 1960 U.S. In May 1961, at the former Greyhound Bus Station on New York Avenue NW, a group of activist volunteers boarded a bus to begin what would become a tumultuous and violence-filled “Freedom Ride 1961.” Text