Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice (Pivotal Moments in American History) Abridged Edition

Freedom Riders’ author Raymond Arsenault tells us about bold civil rights activists, determined to desegregate buses and bus facilities in America’s South through non-violent direct action. The 1954 United States Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education called for an end to separate but equal Jim Crow laws—separate dining and restroom facilities for “colored” and “white,” for example—but in practice the law did not change much, especially in America’s Deep South. Seven years after the landmark decision, interstate bus operators like Greyhound and Trailways, and the terminals that served them, still remained segregated. In May 1961, the civil rights group, Congress of Racial Equality (“CORE”) launched a direct action challenge to the status quo. Determined to employ a Gandhian-style, non-violent method to change the system, CORE organized groups of volunteers to board Greyhound and Trailways buses and head southward. CORE deployed well-organized, well-trained, racially diverse teams, comprising black and white volunteer riders. Each team had a leader. A handful of journalists joined these initial rides. The first rides began in Washington D.C. destined for New Orleans, following a precarious route through Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and on to Louisiana. The mission called for non-violent direct challenges to desegregation of buses and facilities. Black riders would purposefully sit in the front of the bus—seats traditionally reserved for white passengers; and some whites would purposefully sit in the back. At rest stops and dining facilities the riders peacefully challenged the “white’s only” and “colored only” signs. Often working in teams, white riders would use colored dining and restroom facilities and black riders ordered their meals at the white’s only counters. The beginning of the rides met with some early resistance in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. But their cause exploded into violence and organized resistance once they faced-off with the extremism of the Deep South states—Alabama and Mississippi. The Deep South remained determined to maintain their “southern way of life” and deeply resented this invasion of activists. In Alabama and Mississippi, anti-segregation groups, the Ku Klux Klan, and compliant government officials and law enforcement agencies mounted massive resistance. The initial encounter demonstrating coordination occurred at the first stop in Alabama, at Anniston, a town already known for its racist culture. The bus came under siege by a large gathering of civilians who broke windows, hurled racial epithets, tried to tip the bus over, and ultimately set it on fire causing an immense explosion. All of the riders survived but most required medical attention. As the author informs us, law enforcement had promised the Anniston terrorists beforehand that they would be given ample time to do their thing before law enforcement would intervene. The buses encountered violent resistance by mobs in Birmingham and Montgomery, too. The Kennedy Administration had only been in office since January, and the character of the administration was pragmatic and more internationally focused. Their concerns focused more on the communist threat than on domestic issues. Issues of desegregation and racial inequality had not yet taken root with John Kennedy or his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy. CORE’s national director, Jim Farmer, later reflected that the Kennedys could never have predicted that a domestic crisis would shift their focus to a states rights standoff in Alabama because of a group of determined civil rights activists; and that this crisis would force the federal government to enforce its own civil rights laws. (7) But that is exactly what the CORE Freedom Riders brought about in Alabama. The state governments of Alabama and Mississippi ignored the federal law, rebuffed the Kennedy Administration, dismissed the Freedom Riders as interlopers, and stood steadfast in their determination to maintain their southern way of life. Alabama Governor John Patterson even refused to take telephone calls from President Kennedy and tapped telephone calls between Robert Kennedy and Federal Marshalls sent to Montgomery. By the time the riders had struggled their way through Alabama, Mississippi had already devised a creative legal strategy to thwart the movement. Upon arriving in Jackson, police immediately arrested the riders for “inciting to riot, breach of the peace, and failure to obey a police officer, not for violation of state or local segregation laws.” (190) This legal maneuver kept the offense within the jurisdiction of state law. Each rider went directly to jail without even the chance to test Jim Crow at the lunch counter or the restrooms. Instead of thwarting the Freedom Riders, the violence in Alabama and the intransigence of the South’s massive resistance emboldened the movement. Soon buses headed south on a regular basis with no shortage of volunteer riders. Nashville was the tactical nerve center of the movement under the direction of the driven young activist, Diane Nash; but other movements started at random. The riders represented much of American geography including California, the Northeast, Midwest, and the volunteers represented a diverse cross-section of American liberalism. Riders comprised black and white, with varying religions beliefs. Members of the clergy, teachers, and students, dominated; but many other professions could be counted among the volunteers. All shared a common bond of sacrifice and a determination to end racial discrimination for black bus riders through non-violent direct action. Jackson became the end of the line for the “Freedom” of the riders as virtually all riders ended up in Mississippi jail cells. More than 400 riders participated in the rides in the summer of 1961. By August, CORE became financially strapped as legal costs mounted and the Mississippi judicial system, wanting to make a point, did little to expedite adjudication of the cases. Handicapped by Mississippi’s creative justice, and running short of money, CORE faced a bleak situation. But just as CORE considered its next move, victory emerged by way of a surprising ruling by the Interstate Commerce Commission (“ICC”). As the federal agency that regulates interstate business, including bus, railway, and air travel, Robert Kennedy had petitioned the ICC in late May for strong regulations regarding interstate travel that would neuter Jim Crow law in the South and effectually protect black bus passengers against discrimination. At the time, it was a long shot for Kennedy. The eleven member commission comprised mainly conservative Republican appointees and only one had been appointed by President Kennedy. But on September 22, 1961, just as Jim Farmer and other movement leaders deliberated on the successes of the Freedom Riders and contemplated the movement’s future, the “ICC issued a unanimous ruling prohibiting racial discrimination in interstate bus transit.” Stating that, “beginning November 1, all interstate buses would be required to display a certificate that read: Seating aboard this vehicle is without regard to race, color, creed, or national origin, by order of the Interstate Commerce Commission.” (271) Armed with a fairly comprehensive and timely ruling, CORE wasted no time in announcing that they would commence “test rides” beginning as soon as the new regulations went into effect. Initial success was neither universal, nor immediate; but the test rides revealed significant improvement in most of the South. It would take a couple of years before every vestige of Jim Crow vanished from the buses and their facilities. The author provides scant details connecting the dots between the Freedom Rides and the ICC ruling. How much did the Kennedys influence the ruling? Nevertheless, it is impossible to assume that the ICC would move so quickly to issue such commanding regulations, without the dramatic efforts, and the national and international enlightenment, brought about by the brave cadre of the Freedom Riders. Author Raymond Arsenault’s account is riveting. It is hard to put down. The author’s portrayal of some of the actors provided this reader with much enlightenment. The Kennedys focused on international threats, the recent failure at the Bay of Pigs, and an upcoming meeting between JFK and Nikita Khrushchev. Arsenault intimates that neither Robert Kennedy nor the President wanted to be bothered by this domestic issue. One can sense Robert Kennedy’s frustration on this point. The interactions of civil rights groups like the NAACP and Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) as shown by Arsenault were far from monolithic in their respective stategies. As the civil rights movement’s backbone, the NAACP was gradualist and not disposed toward direct action. While CORE’s leader Jim Farmer contemplated the cost of continued legal defense in September, however, NAACP legal counsel Thurgood Marshall offered to foot the bill. Farmer’s first consideration is at what cost to CORE and its disposition for direct action? Moreover, after a violent standoff in Montgomery in which King is present and contributes much in the way of leadership as well as celebrity, the riders ask him to join them on their next leg from Montgomery to Jackson. After much consideration, he declines. How this decision might have affected civil rights history is anyone’s guess. The author writes in clear and concise prose. He obviously has command of this story. The abridged version is without footnotes, sources, or even an index. But these can be ignored for the moment in favor of strong story telling. Freedom Riders is not only an essential book for students of American history, but an essential book for every enlightened American.

Before those who Marched on Washington, there were the Freedom Riders of 1961. Before Rosa Parks of 1955, there was Irene Morgan of 1944. Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia was the Supreme Court case that started it all; it's ruling allowed for desegregated bus travel for interstate bus travelers. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) first attempted a `Journey of Reconciliation' in 1947 which tested the Supreme Court decision. The more robust Freedom Rides across the Deep South came later.Arsenault does a superb job of covering end-to-end the transformative nature of the Freedom Rides; the first large-scale nonviolent direct action civil rights movement. The entire cast, the organizers, the Kennedy Administration and the staunch Southern segregationists are all on display here. As for the diverse band of individuals called the Freedom Riders "...the greater the hardship, the more committed they seemed to be", you will discover that their commitment and courage is unmatched on any level. Unbeknownst to them, their attempt in 1961 to speed up the slow gradualism of racial equality, became the blueprint for future nonviolent civil rights action.

Great price for a new book.

A big fan.

The facts are true fully presented.I was there.Every American, of any age, should know, must be told the history of these events.

This was a well-written, informative read. What a tumultuous period in our history. The atrocities committed against other people are unforgivable but the courage and resilience shown by these heroes is what this America is about.Thank you for telling this story.

I started this book at 7 pm and finally put it down at 3am, picked it up again at 7am and could get nothing else done until I finished it. Exhilarating and disturbing to discover what really happened. Well researched and cited.

Great book and it came with an autographed bookmark of one of the main Freedom Riders. Really cool thing to add to the experience of reading this great story!!

this is fundamental!!!

Good book; will use it as reference in my studies.

This book is such a really well documented book starting from the journey of reconciliation to the freedom ride itself and the author does well in documenting stories about key people such as james peck or farmer himself.This book is highly recommended for various reasons, firstly not only does it document well the civil right struggle and the roller coaster the freedom riders started but the behind the back problems, arguments and work that went on during the rides within the justice department to the Klan and their thugs themselves.This book is also one of the best books which documents each and every stage of the self sacrifice that each rider regardless of colour, belief or age took on their journey to provide equal rights which should have been acknowledged anyways!I would really recommend this to anyone who has a interest not only in civil rights movement but in bravery, sacrifice and a journey into the soul.Oh how the freedom riders changed the world but found themselves pushed back in the pages of history.

本書は公共交通機関の人種差別を撤廃させた50年前のアメリカの非暴力不服従運動「フリーダムライド」について、詳細を記した1冊。当時Deep South -「南部」では、人種分離法によって学校もレストランもトイレや乗合バスの座席でさえも白人用と非白人用に分断されていた。このなか、10人強の黒人＆白人のグループが「Freedom Riders」として南部行きのグレイハウンド - 長距離バスに一緒に乗り込み、連邦政府の姿勢をただすために、また「アメリカ」を問うために、身の危険を賭した。KKKを中心とした白人至上主義者から暴行されたり（巻き込まれたキング牧師でさえも、事態を収拾できず！）、地元警察に逮捕されたりで、第一陣が（危険を感じたバスの運転手が職場放棄をしたことにより）途中放棄を余儀なくされると、呼応した次のグループが出発。暴力にひるむどころか、次々に志願者が現われ、全米から集まった400人以上のライダー達でミシシッピの刑務所が一杯になった、そう言った事実が本書には記されている。そしてロバート・ケネディを中心に事態を重く見た政府の中枢が動き、ついにバス停や駅から人種分離の標識が撤廃された、と言うのが、、、50年前。私自身、70年代に米国に住んでいたんですが、旅行中にバージニアを過ぎて南下する時には「（車の）ドアをロックしろ！」と親父に注意されたもんです。そんな、「最近」のアメリカの話。おススメです！

Just such an interesting book