Freedom Rides
The Freedom Rides were a series of bus trips undertaken by Civil Rights demonstrators to test the implementation of Supreme Court decisions upholding desegregation in facilities used by interstate passengers of public transportation.
Inception
Before 1961, bus companies operating in the South complied with State and local laws mandating racial segregation on buses and in bus stations, despite Supreme Court rulings establishing that such laws placed "an undue burden on commerce"1., and that the power to regulate interstate facilities rested with the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) established by Congress2.. The ICC, meanwhile, had determined in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), that segregated seating on buses conflicted with the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and was therefore unlawful. It did not enforce that ruling, however, until called upon to do so by Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the wake of the Freedom Riders' demonstrations.
The Boynton v. Virginia decision, authored by Hugo Black, was issued on December 5, 1960. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) immediately organized a test of the ruling. The first group of 13 riders left Washington D.C. on May 4, 1961, split between Greyhound and Trailways buses en route to New Orleans, Louisiana. The group of thirteen had originated with the Nashville Student Group which had conducted successful sit-ins at lunch counters and movie theaters in Nashville, Tennessee.
The two buses made relatively peaceful progress through the Atlantic states, except for an incident in Rockville, South Carolina where they were met by a mob and John Lewis was injured. Stops in Athens and Atlanta, Georgia proved peaceful, but the riders had been warned about what awaited them in Alabama.
They were right to worry as organized resistance to "outside agitators" was well under way, not only from the Ku Klux Klan and other anti-integrationist groups, but also from local law enforcement officials. In Birmingham members of the violent Eastview 13 Klavern had been informed that Bull Connor wanted to give them 15 minutes of free reign at the downtown bus stations before city police would respond. At the state level, Governor John Patterson and Public Safety commissioner Floyd Mann announced that they would be unable to provide protection for the demonstrators who had chosen to flout the law. "When you go somewhere looking for trouble, you usually find it," he said, "You just can't guarantee the safety of a fool and that's what these folks are, just fools." Officials at all levels proved uninterested in actively preventing violence or in investigating or prosecuting those who assaulted the demonstrators.
Greyhound
Fourteen passengers were aboard the Greyhound bus which left Atlanta at 11:00 AM (Eastern time) on Sunday, May 14 (Mother's Day). They included seven demonstrators (Bert Bigelow, Ed Blankenheim, Genevieve Hughes, Jimmy McDonald, Mae Frances Moultrie, Joe Perkins, and Hank Thomas), along with two regular passengers, two journalists, the manager of the Atlanta Greyhound station, and two undercover plainclothes officers of the Alabama Highway Patrol (Ell Cowling and Harry Sims).
The bus reached the seemingly-vacant Anniston terminal at 1:00 PM (Central time) and was soon rushed by a shouting mob of about 50 men armed with pipes, clubs and chains. Cowling and Sims rushed to the door to prevent attackers from boarding. Instead they vandalized the bus from outside, smashing windows and slashing the tires for 20 minutes before police arrived and escorted the crippled bus away from the station.
The police escort left the bus at the city limits, but the mob followed in private cars. Two cars forced the bus to the shoulder on Alabama State Highway 202 just east of Bynum. The riders remained on the bus as it was once again attacked with crowbars. Cowling once again guarded the door. Two of the attackers, Roger Couch and Goober Lewallyn threw bundles of burning rags onto the bus through a broken window, causing some of the seats to catch fire and fill the interior with smoke. Most of the passengers escaped only after an explosion prompted the mob to step back long enough for Cowling to open the door. They were quickly set-upon and badly beaten before other Highway Patrolmen fired warning shots to break off the attacks. Genevieve Hughes was driven to a hospital by local residents after an ambulance company declined to respond. Eventually another ambulance arrived, and after a long standoff, transported the remaining riders to Anniston Memorial Hospital, where they were treated by a nurse on duty until a physician arrived much later. Only at the insistence of federal agents did the staff treat the African American riders, but they were all forced to leave as a crowd gathered and threatened to burn the building down.
With no local officials willing to provide transportation or escort, Perkins called Fred Shuttlesworth in Birmingham. He recruited eight drivers to make the trip to pick up the choking, bloodied riders and bring them on to Birmingham.
Trailways
The Trailways bus left from Atlanta toward Birmingham on Mother's Day, Sunday May 14. On board were Freedom Riders Walter and Esther Bergman, Jim Peck, Charles Person, Herman Harris, Jerry Moore and Ike Reynolds. They were joined by Jet magazine reporter Simeon Booker and photographer Ted Gaffney and a smattering of plain-clothes Klansmen who had worked the ticket line discouraging other passengers from taking the bus to Birmingham.
Once on the road, the Klan toughs on board began making verbal threats to the Riders about what would happen to them in Alabama. They arrived in Anniston about 2:00 PM and warily made their way to the sandwich counter in the otherwise empty station. After re-boarding, the news reached them that the Greyhound bus had been attacked and that its riders were being transported to the hospital. Driver John Patterson (no relation to the Governor) warned the black riders that unless they moved to the back, that their coach would face a similar fate. The protesters refused, and were answered by violence from a small group of white men who had gathered. They did not return the blows and were badly beaten. The attackers dragged the semi-conscious demonstrators to the rear of the bus and took seats halfway up the aisle, refusing to let anyone else off.
Patterson then started the bus and made for Birmingham, taking back roads to avoid the mob reported to be lying in wait on the highway. They arrived at the Trailways station in Birmingham just as the Klan "welcoming committee" regrouped, having been waiting for the other bus that never arrived. The men, armed with chains, sticks and clubs, had dashed the three blocks from the Greyhound station and quickly filled the smaller Trailways terminal. As the already-injured riders made their way into the building, they faced a new gauntlet of brutal attacks. Among the crowd of Klansmen and members of the National States Rights Party was FBI informant Thomas Rowe and two plainclothes officers who would give the signal to disperse before the uniformed police arrived. Also present were CBS News correspondent Howard K. Smith, in town filming the documentary "Who Speaks for Birmingham?",
Impasse at Birmingham
Both buses entered Alabama on Mother's Day, May 14. The Greyhound bus was chased down by several cars and forced to pull to the shoulder on the highway outside of Anniston. Attackers slashed the bus's tires and hurled firebombs through the windows. After eventually being allowed to flee the burning coach, the riders were set upon until highway patrolmen caused the mob to disperse.
Later the same day the Trailways bus was boarded at its Anniston stop and the riders beaten. The bus continued on to its next scheduled stop at the Birmingham Trailways terminal on 18th Street. Birmingham Police officials secretly arranged with representatives of the Eastview Klavern #13 that a "welcoming party" of armed Klansmen would be given several minutes of free reign before uniformed policemen would be dispatched. Many of the riders were later taken to Hillman Hospital for emergency treatment.
The next day, United States Attorney General Robert Kennedy began making phone calls to try to negotiate safe passage for the Freedom Riders through Alabama. He also dispatched John Siegenthaler to negotiate in person. These efforts did not effect the desired result and the Freedom Riders elected to continue by air in order to be able to attend the scheduled rally in New Orleans.
Despite Kennedy's pleas for a "cooling off period", additional groups of Freedom Riders were quickly organized by CORE and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and they continued to challenge local enforcement of Jim Crow laws throughout that Spring and Summer. Later riders were escorted by police and National Guard troops to prevent recurrences of violence on the road. However demonstrators continued to defy local laws during stops and were arrested at stops in Montgomery, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; and Tallahassee, Florida. Full desegregation of interstate bus facilities came in November, as the ICC began enforcing its regulations in the South.
White-owned media outlets in the South were universal in their condemnation of the Freedom Riders and there was widespread fear that such "outside agitators" were extremists bent on the destruction of traditional society. They were often conflated with the Communist Party and foreign interests. Their undeniable courage, however, lent strength to local leaders intent to see Civil Rights granted equally to all citizens.
The following is adapted from a transcript recorded by George E. Cruit, manager of the Birmingham Greyhound Station on 19th Street facing City Hall. He spoke with Robert Kennedy by telephone on May 15, 1961, but was unable to satisfy the Attorney General that an answer could be found to allow the riders to continue their trip, even as far as Montgomery. The typed transcript was created by Cruit's office and remained in the possession of his
Notes
- Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 328 U.S. 373 (1946)
- Boynton v. Virginia, 364 U.S. 454 (1960)
References
- Barnes, Catherine A. (1983) Journey from Jim Crow: The Desegregation of Southern Transit. Columbia University Press
- Arsenault, Raymond (2006) Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. Oxford University Press