The Freedom Riders

588 Words3 Pages
The freedom riders were a group of brave people that got together and nonviolently protested the laws that required African-Americans to sit on the back of the bus. There were 13 freedom riders and 3 journalists that went on the ride to the south. May 4, 1961, was the day that the departed from Washington D.C. toward New Orleans, Louisiana. They faced a lot of tribulations on that trip to the south. Some were hurt and injured and one bus couldn’t make it all the way. The ride began in Washington D.C., May 4, 1961; there were 16 people all together. They started off to Virginia to test their Laws on segregation. They had made it all the way to Charlotte, North Carolina when they faced the first act of racism. African-American Joseph Perkins was arrested for trespassing while he attempts to have his shoes shined in a whites-only shoe shining chair. He is put in jail for two days because he refuses to pay bail and then, by the judge, he is proven innocent. May 10th, 1961, in Rock Hill, South Carolina, the freedom riders are attacked after trying to enter a whites-only waiting room. John Lewis, Al Bigelow, and Genevieve Hughes are all injured. Eventually that fracas was stopped by the police. After that visit to the Carolinas they went to Atlanta, Georgia. There they attended a church reception with the civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr. They hoped that he would attend and be a part of the freedom rides. He refused saying that the Klu Klux Klan had “Quite a welcome” for them. He went on to warn them not to go but despite all his advice and warnings they went anyway. Upon arrival at the Anniston, Alabama they were met with a vicious mob. Protesters smash windows, slash tires, and threatens them before being escorted six miles out of town. When they pulled over because the tires ran out of air, a protester firebombed the back half of the bus. Although all of
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