2. Freedom riders were non-violent civil rights
activist made up of mostly African Americans
& White Americans to fight against bus
segregation in the south.
3. Segregation
The separation of whites from “persons of color” in public transportation and schools. Generally, anyone of ascertainable or
strongly suspected black ancestry in any degree was for this purpose a “person of color”;
C.O.R.E
Congress Of Racial Equality was an interracial American organization established by James Farmer in 1942 to improve
race relations and end discriminatory policies through direct-action projects. He founded CORE as a vehicle for the
nonviolent approach to combating racial prejudice that was inspired by Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi.
Ku Klux Klan
Either of two distinct U.S. hate organizations that have employed terror in pursuit of their white supremacist agenda. One
group was founded immediately after the Civil War and lasted until the 1870s; the other began in 1915 and has
continued to the present.
Ambush
The oldest, most primitive field tactics are those that rely on concealment and surprise
Courageous
The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.
Anniston
A City In Alabama
Degradation
The act of degrading or the state of being degraded.
Interstate Commerce Commission
A former independent federal agency that supervised and set rates for carriers that transported goods and people between
states.
Discrimination
The act of discriminating.
Journey of Reconciliation
Was a form of non-violent direct action to challenge segregation laws on interstate buses in the Southern United States.
4.
5. December 1st, 1955 Rosa Parks (a middle age
tailor assistant from Montgomery, Alabama) refused
to give up her seat 2 a white man. Refusing to do
so caused in her arrest.
After her arrest Martin Luther King Jr. helped
organize protest against bus segregation. It was
official blacks in Montgomery would refuse to ride
the buses until they were completely integrated .
For the next 13 months the 17,000 blacks
caught rides from the small car –owning black
population of the city.
6.
7. Transport segregation continued in some parts of the
united states. So in 1961 a civil rights group C.O.R.E began
to organize freedom rides. After 3 days of training in non
violent techniques black &whites volunteered to sit next to
each other while they traveled through the deep south.
The freedom riders were spit into 2 buses. They traveled
in integrated seating & visited “white only” restaurants.
When they reached ANNISTON on mothers day May14
ne of the 2 buses were attacked by men armed with
clubs, bricks, iron pipes and knives. The bus was bombed
and the mob held the doors with the intent on buring the
riders to death (they all survived).
8. The bus that Survived traveled to Birmingham
Alabama they were also attacked by a huge mob.
After being dragged off the bus the mob proceeded
on with beating them with baseball bats and lead
piping.
The Ku Klux Klan hoped that those violent
treatment would stop other young people from
taking part in Freedom Rides.
But over the next 6 months time over a thousand
people took part in Freedom Rides. Eventually the lost
of revenue became too much & a decision by the
supreme court forced the Montgomery bus company
to accept integration.
9. Zwerg: As we were going from Birmingham to Montgomery, we'd look
out the windows and we were kind of overwhelmed with the show of
force -- police cars with sub-machine guns attached to the backseats,
planes going overhead... We had a real entourage accompanying us.
Then, as we hit the city limits, it all just disappeared. As we pulled into the
bus station a squad car pulled out -- a police squad car. The police later
said they knew nothing about our coming, and they did not arrive until
after 20 minutes of beatings had taken place. Later we discovered that
the instigator of the violence was a police sergeant who took a day off
and was a member of the Klan. They knew we were coming. It was a
set-up.
Q: You were attacked when you arrived at the bus station?
Zwerg: The idea had been that cars from the community would meet us.
We'd disperse into these cars, get out into the community, and avoid
the possibility of violence. And the next morning we were to come back
to the station and I would use the colored services and they would go to
some of the white services -- the restroom, the water fountain, etc. And
then you'd get on the bus and go to the next city. It was meant to be as
non-violent as possible, to avoid confrontation as much as possible.
10. Well, before we got off the bus, we looked out and saw the
crowd. You could see things in their hands -- hammers, chains, pipes... there
was some conversation about it. As we got off the bus, there was some
anxiety. We started looking for the cars. But the mob had surrounded the bus
station so there was no way cars could get in and we realized at that
moment that we were going to get it.
There was a fellow, a reporter, with an old boom mike and he was panning
the crowd. And that's when this heavy-set fellow in a white T-shirt... he had a
cigar as I remember... came out and grabbed the mike and jumped on it...
just smashed it... basically telling the press, "Back off! You are not going to
take any pictures of this. You better stay out or you're going to get it next."
You could hear crowd yelling and of course a lot of them were, "Get the
nigger-lover!" I was the only white guy there.
I bowed my head and asked God to give me the strength and love that I
would need, that I put my life in his hands, and to forgive them. And I had the
most wonderful religious experience. I felt a presence as close to me as
breath itself, if you will, that gave me peace knowing that whatever came, it
was okay. Before I opened my eyes, I was grabbed. I was pulled over a
railing and thrown to the ground. I remember trying to get up on all fours
because you try to get back to your group.
One of the things that I alluded to earlier was the strength we got from one
another. To this day I'm sure I'm not the most nonviolent person in the world,
but the strength of those people with me gave me strength beyond my own
capabilities. Just as when we would see someone else being beaten, our
hearts went to them and our strength went to them.
