Freedom’s a comin’
Would you get beat up and hurt for your or someone other than yourself’s rights, how about killed? This is question that many Americans asked themselves when they heard about the freedom rides. C.O.R.E (congress of racial equality) was looking for more than an all black protest or boycott. They wanted a movement, they wanted something bold.
They decided on integrating interstate buses which were breaking the law by segregating buses and waiting rooms. They needed all kinds of people, young and old, white and black and clergymen, to make it work. Once someone volunteered they went through “non-violent training” to test how they would react to getting beaten.
“The training that we did prior to getting on the buses was largely devoted to seeing how the person reacts.” Gordon Carey. From the videos and photos I saw, the training seemed pretty physical with people actually hitting other freedom riders as a test but the actual way they were treated even worse. After training it was time to get on a bus but no training could prepare them for what happened next.
The first couple of weeks were easy and didn’t require any of their training however the further south they got the more violent the residents became.
One day one of the buses was stopped and fire bombed, the people outside blocked the doors and screamed “burn the niggers.”I never understood why people got so angry about things like this that were perfectly legal yet not “acceptable.” It seems that the white mob would strike at any sign of desegregation not just big things like voting rights.
Luckily the freedom riders managed to escape but were harshly beaten as soon as they got off the bus. C.O.R.E just kept sending buses. The people on those buses just kept getting arrested though. Neither side was seeming to give when finally all the prisoners were released and the segregation signs were taken down.
A little superimpose I made:
Some additional information: