The Freedom Riders
By 1961, Supreme Court cases had ruled that segregated public buses, terminals, and restrooms were unconstitutional.
However, southern states ignored the rulings and the federal government did little to enforce them. As a result, Jim Crow travel laws remained in force throughout the South.
A group of civil rights activists planned to challenge local laws on segregation by riding interstate buses in the South in mixed racial groups. They became known as the Freedom Riders.
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) sponsored most of the subsequent Freedom Rides, but some were also organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
The first Freedom Ride left Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961 and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17.
However, ten days into the trip the group's bus had a tire slashed in South Carolina. When they stopped to change the tire, the vehicle was firebombed, and the Freedom Riders were beaten.
Unable to travel farther, the original riders were replaced by a second group. As these riders were either arrested or beaten, more groups of Freedom Riders took their place.
Police arrested riders for trespassing, unlawful assembly, violating state and local Jim Crow laws, and other alleged offenses, but often the police allowed white supremacist mobs attack them without intervention.
Eventually, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy ordered the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce bans on segregation more strictly, an edict that took effect in September.
There were at least 60 separate Freedom Rides in 1961 with over 400 participants. Many also campaigned against other forms of racial discrimination.
As the rides moved through the South, participants sat together in segregated restaurants, lunch counters, and hotels.
The Freedom Rides and the violent reactions they provoked, bolstered the credibility of the Civil Rights Movement. They called national attention to how southern states were disregarding federal law and using violence and police brutality to enforce white supremacy in the South.