2021 marks the 60 year anniversary of the Freedom Rides. After a 1960 Supreme Court decision which outlawed segregation in interstate travel was met refusal to comply in the South, a brave, multiracial group of Freedom Riders decided to exercise their rights. As Raymond Arsenault wrote, “The time had come to challenge the hypocrisy and complacency of a nation that refused to enforce its own laws and somehow failed to acknowledge the utter indecency of racial discrimination.”

 

Of a total of 436 Riders, 52.7% were Black, 46.8% were white, and 0.5% were Asian.

 

All of them knew they could be killed on the trip.

 

They were bombed, beaten with steel pipes, iron bars, clubs and baseball bats, pummeled with fists, kicked repeatedly, and threatened with pistols by white supremacists while police looked away or joined in. Several Riders suffered severe injuries. Hospitals refused to treat them, and ambulances refused to drive them. James Peck was attacked so viciously that he needed fifty stitches on his head to close his wound. All because they travelled on an integrated bus, and demanded to be treated equally.

 

The hatred towards the Riders was so intense that a twelve year old girl who gave water to Riders who were choking from a smoke bomb was forced to move out of town after being ostracized and threatened because of her brave actions. 

 

Despite the immense violence they suffered, the Riders who knew how endangered their lives were decided that they had to go on. John Lewis, who was on the first Freedom Ride, decided that they had to continue or racists would think violence could stop protest.

 

The Freedom Rides took place from May 4th, 1961 to December 10th, 1961.

 

The bravery of the Freedom Riders and the importance of what they did cannot be overstated.

 

The words on the top read “Good Trouble” a phrase coined by John Lewis. The cape is printed with the mugshots of 48 Riders who were arrested for defying segregation. During hearings, the judge turned and faced the wall instead of listening to the Freedom Riders’ defense before sentencing them to a month in prison. The Riders refused to pay fines, which meant they would have to spend more time in jail, because they did not want to fund a segregated state.