Freedom Riders

National Park Service Freedom Riders U.S. Department of the Interior Freedom Riders National Monument tSYTH Sc SON 6RQ nil Firebombed Greyhound bus, near Anniston, AL Joseph Postiglione In 1961,a small interracial group of"Freedom Riders" challenged discriminatory laws requiring the separation of races in interstate travel. The Freedom Riders were attacked by white segregationists in Anniston, Alabama, who firebombed the bus. Images of the attack appeared in hundreds of newspapers,shocking the American public and spurring the federal government to issue regulations banning segregation in interstate travel. Who Were The Freedom The Freedom Riders were civil rights activists Over 400 African American and white Riders? who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States in 1961.Their goal was to test if bus station facilities in the Deep South were complying with United States Supreme Court decisions {Morgan v. Virginia and Boynton v. Virginia) striking down segregation Freedom Riders risked their lives on more than 50 freedom rides in 1961. They endured beatings, arrests, and jail time for their decision to travel throughout the segregated South. in interstate travel. Violence Meets Courage On May 4,1961,thirteen Freedom Riders split into two groups and boarded a Greyhound Twelve-year-old Janie Forsyth was standing in front of her father's bus and a Trailways bus in Washington D.C., grocery store near where the bus had bound for New Orleans, Louisiana. broken down. Upon witnessing people gasping and choking,Janie sprang into action On Sunday, May 14,1961,the Greyhound bus carrying the first group of Freedom Riders departed Atlanta, Georgia and was met by an angry mob of more than 100 white and filled a bucket with water. She began filling glasses and washing the faces of the passengers who had been trapped on the bus. The angry mob watched her heroic efforts. segregationists,including members of the Ku Klux Klan,at the Greyhound bus station in Anniston, Alabama.The mob threw rocks at the bus, broke windows,and slashed tires. The Freedom Riders ultimately received little additional aid for their injuries. Later that day, deacons from Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham,Alabama, dispatched by Belatedly, police officers arrived and cleared Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth rescued the a path,allowing the bus to depart with a long line of vehicles in pursuit. Two cars pulled ahead of the bus,forcing it to slow to a crawl. Freedom Riders from the angry mob and drove them to shelter at the church. Six miles outside of town, the bus's slashed tires gave out and the driver stopped on the shoulder of Highway 202 near the Forsyth and Son Grocery Store. There, with the Freedom Riders onboard, one member of the mob threw a bundle of flaming rags through one of the passenger windows,causing an explosion seconds later. The Freedom Riders struggled to escape as members of the mob attempted to trap them inside the burning bus. Historic Greyhound bus station, Anniston, AL NPS photo