Freedom Riders Thesis

In May 1961, a diverse group of people set out to change the segregation throughout the United States, especially in the South, where segregation was at its highest peak. These diverse people were known as the Freedom Riders. Their purpose and there goals were to bring the idea and movement of the group to the South, in the hopes that it’ll stop the raging war between races in those Southern states. The Freedom Riders also hoped to grab political attention, from their current President at the time, John F Kennedy. They wanted his attention because at the time he was highly focused on world problems such as the Cold War. To get the right attention, the riders deliberately broke segregation laws in the South. These laws broke the rights of the

The riders left from Washington, D.C. on a Greyhound that would later take them to Georgia. Less than ten days later they made it to Atlanta where they were met by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They riders were greeted but also warned by Dr. King, not to go to Alabama because there were threats that were made by the KKK. On the 14th of May in 1961, the Freedom Riders left Atlanta and headed to Alabama. The bus, when on arrival was attacked by racist locals. The tires to the bus was flattened and the windows were broken by bricks that were thrown by the Whites that surrounded the bus. The bus was burned and luckily no one was killed. This bus only had half of the Freedom Riders on it because they were going to two different cities in Alabama, this bus was going to Anniston and the other to Birmingham. Birmingham, Alabama was the most racist city in the United States at the time. Bull Connor, commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham, believed that Blacks and White should stay separated. Because of this, the police and FBI did not protect the riders when they arrived. The riders were attacked, beaten, and called racial slurs by the locals and KKK members. Freedom riders from Nashville also came down to Birmingham but were arrested upon arrival for their own safety, however they were taken

The riders had no protection and no drivers so they were stuck in Birmingham until a meeting was held in which it was stated that they could give the riders protection. When the riders arrived in Montgomery, they were no longer being protected. The station was empty, but a mob of people came and starting to beat the reports and attacking the riders, while women egged on the violence while holding small children. The police came to watch the mob, but did not stop them from attacking the peoples. Federal Marshalls had to get involved in order to protect the