The Freedom Riders Matthew Williams Baker College of Flint Kim Rosebohm Eng 102 (0305) Essay 2 Aug 3, 2011 The Civil Right Movement (The Freedom Riders) The Freedom Riders were a group of college students and leaders of various racial equality organizations, both blacks and whites, which tested the law of integration for public transportation. The law was instated, but Alabama especially did not follow it. The Freedom Riders rode buses into the cities to see if the townspeople accepted or declined the new law. They turned ended up beating, pummeling, and chasing the riders out of town with the white mobs. The Freedom Riders violently fought the segregation of blacks and whites for public transportation systems, and their victory
The city of Little Rock thought they could break down the barriers of segregation in its schools with a carefully developed program. It had already desegregated its public buses, as well as its zoo, library and parks system. Its school board had voted unanimously for a plan, starting with desegregation in the high school in 1957, followed by junior high schools the next year and elementary schools following. But the transition wasn’t as easy as they thought it would be. On September 2, the night before school was to start, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called out the state's National Guard to surround Little Rock Central High School and prevent any black students from entering so he could protect citizens and property from possible violence by protesters he said was coming to Little Rock.
From the personal story of her early years, the wider context of the civil rights movement before her arrest, and the story of her historic ride on the bus itself. The last few chapters go into the aftermath of her suffering, her experience of the black freedom struggle in Detroit during the 1950’s and 1960’s, and her life during the black power era of the 1970’s and beyond. The center of the book is the boycott and the community’s reaction to an activist’s principled challenge to oppression. Jeanne Theoharis is a professor at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She teaches political science.
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X AS TOLD TO ALEX HALEY Christopher Jones Summer 2011 Not until numerous of court cases about segregation of the races in the United States, blacks were limited by law from public venues such as restaurants, neighborhoods, golf courses, schools, and movie theaters. The U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown vs. the Board of Education in 1954 made separating schools illegal. In later years, the Supreme Court handed down decisions of invalidating segregation of golf courses, swimming pools, and beaches. Rosa Parks's in 1955 refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, as the first step in the American civil rights movement. She was arrested and fined for violating the city's segregationist laws about
I called my mother and told her that I was going to Jackson, Mississippi and she was thrilled but later gave in. After I graduated from Howard I offered to continue my education but declined to be a part of the movement by joining the SNCC. In Lowndes County , Alabama, I reregistered 70 -2,000 blacks to vote and formed Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) with the hope of becoming a third party along with the Democratic and Republican parties along with others. The organization was all blacks and wasn’t appeal to whites and a Black Panther was chosen as the symbol for the independent party. In May 1966, I was elected national chairman of SNCC.
There was a protest on 1960 by the U.S Supreme Court. They made it clear to everybody that African Americans could ride any public transportation like trains buses and planes. It was later called “Freedom riders”. The Klu Klux Klan and other groups would attack these freedom riders because African Americans were allowed to ride on them. Another challenge was on February 10, 1964 the House of representatives tried to send a bill for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
He was an activist before a scholar; he knew his tactics and his goals. January 1957 the leaders that were the force behind the Montgomery Bus Boycott had gathered together in Atlanta, Georgia and established the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. This was also known as the SCLC; it comprised of churches from across the South, and was formed to manage protests inspired by the victory of the Bus Boycott. In February 1957 the group wrote a letter to the White House requesting that they hold a conference on civil rights. It was rejected but it caught major media press.
Well before the Montgomery bus boycott, mothers led their children into segregated amusement parks, teenagers congregated at forbidden swimming pools, and church groups picnicked at white-only parks. But too often white mobs attacked those who dared to transgress racial norms. In Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters, Victoria W. Wolcott tells the story of this battle for access to leisure space in cities all over the United States. Wexler, Sanford. The civil rights movement: An eyewitness history.
During the era of Grand Expectations people like Rosa Parks come to mind. At the time, city regulation stated that African Americans had to give up their seats on trains or busses if any white man asked for them. Most notable for refusing to give up her seat and not moving to the back of the bus, Rosa Parks “was arrested and convicted of violating the laws of segregation… and thus formally challenged the legality of segregation” (The Henry Ford, 2002). Initiations of boycotts of the bus systems began, and in Montgomery, where Rosa Parks ride took place, African Americans made up about 75 percent of the riders, thus showing an economic threat to the company and the white rule of the city (The Henry Ford, 2002). Above all, you can’t forget the impact, hard work, leadership and courageous acts of Martin Luther King, Jr. Like Rosa Parks, he became an iconic person of this era who with peaceful protests and encouraging words became a notable leader in the fight for equal rights.
In 1954 the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (Kansas) was trying to prove that the claim that black and white children could be taught in “separate but equal’ schools (Macionis, 2012). The next big legal decision was when Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white person, triggering a successful, year-long African American boycott of the bus system (Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), 1995-2009). In 1956 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the segregation of Montgomery, Ala., buses is unconstitutional (Public