Freedom Riders Tolerance Presentation by: Brooke

Freedom Riders Short Introduction The Freedom Riders were activists that were sticking together to promote equality during harsh times. They were beaten, discriminated, and were physically kicked out of public places with "whites only" reservations, but they did this all for a reason. Racial Equality. Not all of the Freedom Riders were African Americans.

Freedom Riders The Freedom Riders were a group of 13 civil rights activists that took an array of bus trips through the south to protest discrimination in interstate bus terminals. They were all recruited to do this by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

Freedom Riders The Freedom Riders protested at bus terminals and tried to go to "whites only" bathrooms and sit at "whites only" counters in restaurants and other public places. They came across colossal violence from whites that were against them. In 1961 the Interstate Commerce Commission announced rules not allowing protesting in buses and trains, but that didn't keep the Freedom Riders from stopping.

Conflicts Type of conflict in this situation: Person vs. Society

May 12, Rock Hill nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn Four people including a white male were brutally attacked when they tried to access an "all whites" waiting area.

May 14, Anniston Alabama A mob of around 200 whites enclosed the bus the Freedom Riders were in causing the bus driver to miss the bus stop. When the tires blew out on the bus a person from the mob threw a bomb into the bus! Attempting to escape the flaming bus they were beaten by the mob, many hitten with metal pipes. Safety commissioner Bill Conner knew violence would break out and that those who were riding on the bus would've received colossal violence from the mob, but sent no police because it was Mother's Day.

May 14, Anniston Alabama

Result and Reactions of Anniston Alabama

Result Pictures from the night were on newspapers around the world creating attention to the Freedom Riders. It was chosen to abandon the Freedom Rides because CORE could not find a bud driver to drive the group due to violence. Diane Nash (from SNCC) made a group of 10 students and created a new Freedom Rides. They also found a new bus driver and protection for the new Freedom Riders. With police by their side, they resumed the Freedom Rides on May 20.

Reactions - directly after Alabama incident The night after, Martin Luther King Jr. managed a service at First Baptist Church in Montgomery that was visited by over 1000 supporters for the people of the old Freedom Rides. May 24, the new Freedom Riders attempted to sit at a "whites only" counter, got arrested and were sentenced, from court, for 30 days in jail

How it all ended

Freedom Riders Violence and arrests still occurred, but after a few months the Kennedy Administration pressured the Freedom Riders to stop and the Commerce Commission made rules not allowing protesting at interstate bus terminals, again. Creating these rules, and more severe consequences, eventually the Freedom Rides stopped.

How this affects us today... This affects us today because no one is as prejudice as they were back then, and now everyone is treated equally. Even though we don't have Freedom Rides, in some parts of the world there are still protests about equality. Remember the Freedom Riders.

Story told from an original Freedom Rider!!! From his perspective in the Anniston Alabama incident. I suggest to get the full effect, to watch the entire video.

Works Cited (more next slide) Bausum, Ann. Freedom Riders. Washington D.C: National Geographic Society, Print. “Freedom Riders : John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement.” INFOhio. EBSCO Industries, n.d. Web. 8 Feb “The Freedom Rides.” CORE Volunteers put their lives on the Road. Congress of Racial Equality, n.d. Web. 8 Feb

Works Cited Continued. “Freedom Rides.” Global Freedom Struggle. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb "History - Freedom Rides." History. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Feb