Freedom Riders (1961) were those Americans who rode buses through the South in 1961 to test Boynton v Virginia, a Supreme Court decision which said that buses and trains that travelled between states could no longer separate people by race at their stations. All those “Whites Only” and “For Colored Only” signs had to come down.
But the signs did not come down. And President Kennedy, despite all his pretty words about freedom and democracy, did nothing. Nothing. He had narrowly won the election and it seems he felt he could not anger the state governors of the Jim Crow South.
James Farmer, the head of CORE (the Congress of Racial Equality), had other ideas. He asked for people to ride cross-country buses through the South to test the ruling – by doing the opposite of what the signs said. He trained them in non-violence.
The first bus left Washington, DC on May 4th 1961. It was to go through the Deep South, right through the heart of Klan country, to reach New Orleans on May 17th 1961 (the seventh anniversary of Brown v Board).
It never made it. By the time they got to the state of Alabama the Freedom Riders were in two buses. One was set on fire and destroyed by the Klan in Anniston, Alabama on Mother’s Day (May 14th) and the other got only as far as Birmingham before it too was set on by the Klan. A week later another bus left Birmingham but only got as far as Montgomery, where the Klan beat up everyone they could get their hands on, even news reporters.
Pictures of burning buses and beat-up Freedom Riders made the news across the country. This had two effects:
- It forced Kennedy to act;
- Way more people signed up to become Freedom Riders! The movement became unstoppable.
After Montgomery Kennedy wanted a “cooling-off period”, to which James Farmer replied:
We have been cooling off for 350 years. If we cool off any more, we’ll be in a deep freeze.
From Montgomery they rode on to the state of Mississippi. The governor there had made a deal with Kennedy: he would be allowed to break the law and arrest the Freedom Riders so long as he kept the Klan quiet.
The governor sent the Freedom Riders to the worst prison in the state: Parchman. But by refusing bail they filled the prison to overflowing. And by endlessly singing freedom songs they won the test of wills against the guards who tried to break their spirit.
On July 7th most of the Freedom Riders were freed from Parchman.
On November 1st Kennedy ordered the desegregation of all bus and train stations. CORE kept sending its riders to test the law to see that it was put into effect. It was.
Hundreds of Freedom Riders were beaten or arrested. No one was killed, as far as I know, but at least two were paralysed for life.
See also:
- Mother’s Day in Anniston
- Freedom Riders: John Lewis, Stokely Carmichael, Hank Thomas, Jim Zwerg
- Eric Etheridge: Breach Of Peace
- Jim Crow
- Jim Crow racism
Abagond 
Yes, that be the so-called Jim Crow-South…:/
LikeLike
Kennedy was a racist Irish Catholic from the Northeast, which to this day remains a hotbed of racism in the US. He was no friend to black people and only supported civil rights causes later in his career because it became politically expedient after the explosive photos and reports of the Freedom Riders’ experiences came out nationally.
LikeLike
Brave people. And to the assholes who did that….they are still living…and I hope they are suffering because things like that shouldnt have NEVER happen. Black people went through a lot in this country…and still going through BS. But what piss me of the most is after all we been through, we still dont stick together and a lot of these people died because of all that BS that went on back in those days. SMH
LikeLike
I saw this, very disturbing you may not think so Abagond, but I just seems that the double standard that america has about the world seems so so very disturbing and very very uneasy, it makes you think maybe we’re on the wrong team, america just like nazi germany and unlike other terrorist, always seems to do wrong and never wants to admit it until them have to, just something bizarre and uneasy about this , the thought pattern of criminals are the same the all want you to believe their innocent and all believe that they are not wrong ever.
LikeLike
Abagond:
The ugly truth about the civil-rights movement in the south, is that, it was hijacked by outside groups who wanted to push their own agendas into the public sphere by hiding behind black people. Labor unions are an example of outside groups using black people as pawns. Communists in the US made it their business to imbed themselves into the civil-rights movement in states such as New York and New Jersey, etc. Unions are notorious for their racism against blue-collar blacks. The feminist movement is another outside group that forced themselves into the movement. As a voting bloc, they’ve supported political and economic policies that have hurt black people in a major way. The public school system, the court system, politics, media, affirmative-action, etc. As far as Pres. Kennedy and LBJ, they hoodwinked black people. If Kennedy was the new face of the democrat party, he wouldn’t have chosen LBJ to be his wingman. LBJ was a dixiecrat from texas, and texas at that time was one of the most racist states in the south. As far as the jewish connection, it was perfect timing for them to push all of the progressive policies they have long supported. Socially liberal, and fiscally conservative are the mainstays of jewish political thought. But, that only applies to them, not black people. Black people have to be liberal on both fronts, which is a recipe for disaster. As black people, we can’t continue to give jewish liberals a pass in this country. They want black folk to support policies that benefit them, but hurt black people as a whole.
Tyrone
Free Aquarius
LikeLike
Another great and informative blog as usual, Abagond.
LikeLike
@Tyrone
How did I know that your comment would eventually boil down to a “blame the Jews” conspiracy. Smh.. are you really trying to say that all of those Jewish whites that RISKED THEIR LIVES to help black people vote were doing it all for their socialist agendas? How do these liberal views HELP Jewish people when they collectively have a higher median income?
LikeLike
@The Cynic actually I hate to bust your ignorance bubble but this time TYRONE is right, let me ask you this cynic, what about those African american soilders in WWI and WWII, what did they get for all of there service nothing not a damn think not from the racist american gov. or that damn kaaskoop clint crapwood who said that he didn’t give a damn about them, was it because no wanted the N.O.I to take over america, no it was because they had hoped for america to turn into the country of freedom in which they were advertised and which was advertised to the world, un-like the jews, catholic, arabs, etc in the civil rights era, that were only doing it because of publicity and wanting, just like some caucasion supremacist use the election of Barack, to claim that all caucasions are innocent and un-racist because they “allowed” Barack to become president. hmmm
LikeLike
Well first off I apologize, mr. Abagond for my hostile comment on your open forum, but certainly we should at least raise an eyebrow, to any group that benifitted more from our struggle than we did(which includes gays, hispanics, jews and european american women). That end result itself, even if it was just coincidence implies a certain level exploitation. No we shouldn’t hate these groups, but we should question if they were “really” with us, or tagging along for the goodies
LikeLike
Phantom (and by association, Tyrone),
I noticed you haven’t actually responded to Cynic’s disagreement, which is WHY would WHITE JEWISH Americans RISK THEIR LIVES to HELP Black people? It seems to go against the anti-Semitic meme of greedy self-interest Tyrone (and possibly yourself?) seem to believe about Jews. (By the by, most Jews are not socialists. Neither is Obama a socialist. Unless by socialism you mean social security, public schools, military recruitment commercials, minimum wage laws, the right to unionize, and other things which are found in most democratic societies in some form or another.)
But honestly, I don’t see how a conversation about Jews in 2011 should be allowed to derail the FACT of Jewish involvement among the Civil Rights movement during the 1960’s. Frankly, it speaks more to your own prejudice, than to any actual argument — other than your misgivings about Jews in general, which really does sound like anti-Semitism to me. But hey, maybe I’m just another Jewish liberal out to oppress the Black man (while dating a Black woman, haha) in order to bring about Jewish world domination…
DUN DUN DUN!
=P
LikeLike
Sigh… I thought my post might start trouble. It’s just that whenever I think freedom riders, I think Jewish. I was just commenting on what I know…
@Abagond
Plz do delete my comments if possible
LikeLike
Deleted.
LikeLike
The know it all new generation. You really do not know how Jews supported Black people in the south during Jim Crow. Blacks could often count on Jews as defense Lawyers when it was difficult for Black lawyers to get access to the Justice system. Blacks might have also had Jewish Doctors, where there no Black doctors. Black were allows to rent their social venues, perhaps not viewed as significant now, but Blacks did have social events not related to the Church. You know it all’s, have no idea how limited life was for Black people under Jim Crow.
I am sure the white woman whose brains were blown out, the guy who wound up paralyzed and the two guys shot and beaten to death really uplifted the opportunities of the Jews. Oh, let us not forget the Jews who were harassed by the KKK.
Then there are all the Black youth who died and risk their lives to have equality and now some know it all thinks it was about communism. I’d like to drop you know it all’s back in time with brown faces and then let them tell me just how much fun it was.
I’m 66 years old. A third of my life, lived under Jim Crow. If you think the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended it, think again.
LikeLike
Thank you Hathor.
There was once much solidarity between the Black and jewish people. Now we have… well we have Tyrone the “Black Power” drone.
LikeLike
This post touched my heart. These were brave people with convictions, and the sacrifices they made really deserve to be highlighted.
(PS – thanks Hathor for sharing with us your first hand experiences.)
LikeLike
You are absolutely right Hathor! As an aside, to this day, my grandmother will not say anything but words of praise for Jews, and this is in Toronto. She grew up in what what was then the ‘Jewish Ghetto'(often referred in a derogatory manner as ‘Jew Town’) in the Kensington Market area. As Hathor stated, they were the only ones who for the most part would rent or sell to blacks, serve them in their store and in general treat them decently. They also had common ground as there were signs posted at beaches stating: No N*****s, Jews or dogs allowed. My father still has Jewish buddies he grew up with who he meets up with for dinner occasionally.
Although not the States, in some respects it was worse here in Toronto for black Canadians, as they were very small in numbers. With the onset of mass immigration from the Caribbean, things began to change as there are safety in numbers so to speak. I remember being called n***** constantly, so much so you would think that was the name on my birth certificate. They would also curse out and badger the few Jewish children I knew, mercilessly. When I went over to a white kids house I was not allowed inside. However, I was always invited into the Jewish children’s houses . My grandmother has similar relations with the few Asians in the area also. I completely understand where Hathor is coming from albeit from ‘Hogtown’.
LikeLike
@Herneith
What time was that? I mean like year, decade?
She grew up in what what was then the ‘Jewish Ghetto’(often referred in a derogatory manner as ‘Jew Town’) in the Kensington Market area. As Hathor stated, they were the only ones who for the most part would rent or sell to blacks, serve them in their store and in general treat them decently. They also had common ground as there were signs posted at beaches stating: No N*****s, Jews or dogs allowed. My father still has Jewish buddies he grew up with who he meets up with for dinner occasionally.
and this,
With the onset of mass immigration from the Caribbean, things began to change as there are safety in numbers so to speak.
and this,
I remember being called n***** constantly, so much so you would think that was the name on my birth certificate.
… if you don’t mind somewhat giving away your age group.
LikeLike
@zek j evets and King you are all out of line, you need to first listen then choose your words carefully, I think that as a rule African descended persons shouldn’t grovel to anyone for anything, are you forgetting that as you claim about caucasions helping out in the movement, their were even more caucasion wanting to hurt the movement and its peoples you leave that out,
here’s the things I am not saying that African americans should hate anyone because they are different (i.e. like all europeans have ever done and still do), I’m just stating the facts, that Africans shouldn’t be overly happy about help from anyone like you want, I’m not at all sorry if I wan’t Africans to think for themselves and be self-sufficient, I’m just saying that all of the African-am solders that fought in all of americas ware, the caucasion help in the civil rights era, wasn’t even the least they could do, and neither is the election of Barack.
LikeLike
@The Cynic a book you need to read if your not afraid to read Iceman Inheritance Michael Bradley, a caucasion. just to enlighten you.
LikeLike
@ phantom
“
Well, not many people are going to argue with you over that position.
LikeLike
Abagond, could you please delete the improperly formatted version above?
@ Phantom
Well, not many people are going to argue with you over that position.
Skin color is not some kind of uniform worn by competing armies. Some White people can do good, and some White people can do evil—same goes for Blacks. No one person is responsible for all other people who look like him, or who share her heritage. Each individual is responsible for the actions of only 1 person.
If I am to be thankful at all, then I am EVEN MORE thankful to those who have had the courage to stand up against THEIR OWN people, and against a system that favors them, in order to help somebody else. If someone dies fighting for Black voting rights, I DON’T ASK THEIR COLOR BEFORE I SAY “THANKS!!!”
It doesn’t diminish me, to respect and appreciate the brave actions, of Jews, Whites, Chinese, and Filipinos, as well as Blacks, who died well so we could live better.
These people (whatever their color) risked everything that they had, and bore more grievous scars than sore fingers from typing out an e-revolution on the internet!
LikeLike
xxxphantomxxx,
I get so tired of conscious Negros thinking they are the only ones who can think for themselves.
LikeLike
I reject elitists from Blacks, Whites , Jews, Muslims, Asians, etc who seek to have thier narrative as the only perspective on the civil rights era…Demonizing people like Tyrone only silenced the potential to educate..I even alllow rednecks and KKK types to express and opinions..All speech has value even hate speech..
I am often attacked with the yiddish n-word because I question the racism often surfacing in many jewish venues from the nasty whisper campaign about Obama to those folks who try to ignore the ugly history between South Africa and Israelduring the aparthied era( BTW NAZI”s fled to SA after WWII it was like many westrn venues a safe have for them including our own country)..
LikeLike
@ Thrasher
I hope this doesn’t mean people who say, “I think that my interpretation is more correct than the opposing choices.”
If that is the case, then what is so different about the “elites” expressing their exclusive opinions??
LikeLike
@King,
When I post an opinion please quote me accurately and always refrain from inserting your views into my words…
BTW yy post was quite specfic go back and revisit my thoughts about the opinions of “elites”…Of course thier views are not exclusive..
LikeLike
if you don’t mind somewhat giving away your age group.
I do mind actually but being a trooper, here goes, My grandmother was born outside of Collingwood(somewhere in moosecrotch Ontario), on a farm. Yes they had black farmers, the land being given to them by the British for helping them defeat the Yanks in 1812. How they lost their land is another story I don’t wish to go into. Most of the Jews in Toronto at the time were immigrants from Eastern Europe I believe. All I know, from what my grandmother told me, is that they spoke mostly Yiddish at that time. My grandmother learned to competently speak it to communicate when she dealt with many of them. She still sprinkles her speech with it especially when cursing. For example, she always says ‘shiza'(sic), which apparently means ‘sh*t.
My father was born towards the end of the Depression. I was born in the 1960s’ but I ain’t going to tell you the year. Mass immigration from the Caribbean started in the early 70s’ in Toronto. When I say this, this was when they started to trickle down to my part of the woods. I noticed this as a child. I was maybe one of two black children in most of the schools I attended. They may have started arriving earlier, but I’m referring to my perception as a kid.
LikeLike
Um.. those were cut directly from your post, genius. What? Did you think that I bothered retyping them or something?
Luckily I am wearing my false Falasha BS decoder ring. Translation: You said something illogical and contradictory. You were called on your illogic error. You now wish to make it sound like you said something so deep that it was only mistaken for illogic. FAIL.
LikeLike
Sorry but you need a better excuse for me to give any respect for your “false Falasha BS decoder ring”
These are your words”
“I hope this doesn’t mean people who say, “I think that my interpretation is more correct than the opposing choices.”
“If that is the case, then what is so different about the “elites” expressing their exclusive opinions”
None of these words of YOURS are mine nor reflect anything I posted..
Now here is an idea take that decoder ring of yours and stand in front of a mirror for about as long as you like…lol,lol,lol
LikeLike
Yes, those are called “comments” and “questions” Greg.
You’ll often find those sorts of things in the comment section of a blog. You see, most people don’t just copy what you wrote and repost it verbatim without making a comment or asking a question about it.
That’s what most of us refer to as “having a conversation” or even “having a debate.” Do you now see why all of the words in my reply to you were not your own words repeated back to you?
LikeLike
To xxxphantomxxx and The Cynic
@The Cynic a book you need to read if your not afraid to read Iceman Inheritance Michael Bradley, a caucasion. just to enlighten you.
Michael Bradley is a White Supremacist…. check his website:
http://www.michaelbradley.info/books/iceman/iceman_promo.html
“Now, for the first time in 23 years, there is a new and revised edition of one of the most notorious underground bestsellers in recent North American publishing history – possibly second only to The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews.”
Oh… you weren’t aware of the “Secret Relationship Between and Jews” ..? Neither was I.
The former Abagond poster Thad gave a pretty good review of the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Iceman-Inheritance-Prehistoric-Sources-Aggression/product-reviews/1879831007/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar
LikeLike
@King,
I think these words now make sense and apply to your last post to me:
“Luckily I am wearing my false Falasha BS decoder ring. Translation: You said something illogical and contradictory. You were called on your illogic error. You now wish to make it sound like you said something so deep that it was only mistaken for illogic. FAIL.’
LikeLike
@Herneith
Thx. I love learning about the history of blacks outside the US.
@xxxphantomxxx & Uncle Milton
I’m not interested in that book
LikeLike
Uncle Milton,
It’s always struck me as extremely funny how racist Blacks and racist Whites always seem to manage to agree when it comes to anti-Semitism. Must be something in the hatred that causes them to blithely discriminate…
Phantom,
you are all out of line, you need to first listen then choose your words carefully
Oh, I did listen carefully; these words are chosen quite carefully. And when I called you out on your BS, you turned it around and attempted to get self-righteous that I would have the gall to question you on your comments! It’d be funny if it weren’t also so tiresome. Especially since you go off on a random tangent about Barack Obama, or Africans being self-sufficient, which had little to nothing to do with the conversation. In fact, nobody mentioned that anyone had to be grateful to anybody. Honestly, nobody mentioned groveling or showing gratitude. But since White Jews DID risk their lives in the Civil Rights movement for apparently nothing more than to help Black people, your support of Tyrone’s anti-Semitic statements earlier that said they were actually doing it to further a supposedly socialist agenda seems somewhat… ignorant. That is YOU are ACTING ignorant.
Keep in mind that we were talking about JEWS specifically and not “Caucasians”. Not all Jews are Caucasian, and certainly, White Jews are often not considered White — especially in the context of the Civil Rights movement when anti-Semitism was more acceptable than it is now.
Lastly, your inclusion of Michael Bradley as evidence for your position is so monumentally bigoted that I almost hope you were either A) ignorant of his work or B) attempting to make a bad joke. But if it was C) you really believe Jews control the media and want to parasitically takeover the world, then I’m afraid you’re just as big of a racist as the “Caucasians” you rave against here and on your blog.
Just saying.
LikeLike
@ Zek
While I’m not defending Phantom and (in this case) Tyrone, I’d like to point that the same thing you mentioned can be said about racist white Jews and racist non-Jewish whites. They generally seem to collaborate against blacks in the name of “science”.
Which is somewhat odd, that the one of the only times white Jews are considered white (or at least a blind eye is turned toward their “questionable whiteness”) by racists, is when these Jews are reinforcing their nonsense.
LikeLike
How the hell this became about the jews? As an older guy who has seen a bit of this and that around the world, I think King is right here. These other guys need to go back to school and learn some real history.
If you are black guy and quote white racists as a proof that jews somehow conspire against blacks, I can only recommed this: take your hand out of the potty and grow up.
If you think a white nazi is somehow better guy than a white guy who took a brick into his head on those busses, you got to be seriously handicapped mentally.
The point is this: all these people, black and white, were doing something for every humanbeing. They were doing it in a manner which was not only graceful but corageous as hell. It is so easy to get a weapon and go at it, even a child old enough to throw a stone can do it, but to go straight at your enemies and decide that you will not carry any weapons nor fight, that takes some serious guts.
I’ve never been that brave. I have defended myself. But violence does not solve anything. Never. Think what these guys did? Tyrone can go to any buss anywhere in USA at anytime and nobody beats him up or arrests him because of that. Phantom can sit on any park bench he whishes to do so. Why? Because of these people, black and white.
As long as this yadayadayada goes on, racism is going to be. As long as there are racists, in any ethnic group, there will be racism. When a white racist sees words like tyrones or phantoms, they smile and nod knowingly. Because you are like them. And you support the same thing; racism.
LikeLike
Franklin,
Oh I agree completely with what you’re saying. Many of the HBDers we’ve seen on the web or referenced in certain discussions are Jewish, as much as it pains me in the collective-identity sense of things to say so.
But so it goes, y’know? We’ve all got our embarrassments. And while your point is taken, it doesn’t really change the nature of hatred of ignorance, especially as they pertain to Phantom, and Tyrone. It does add irony though.
LikeLike
Hmmm…maybe the anti-semite Kevin McDonald had a valid point(just poking at an ant’s nest with this one)
LikeLike