A Journey for Justice
Fifty years ago, the Freedom Riders hit the road to fight for equality
O
n May 20, 1961, a
black college student
named John Lewis
stepped off abus
in Montgomery,
Alabama. An angry mob of
hundreds of people rushed toward
him. The mob began to beat up
Lewis and the other bus riders.
"I was hit in the head with a
wooden crate, left bloody and
Words to Know
activists (ack-tuh-vihsts) noun,
plural, people who take action in
support of a cause
commemorate (kuh-mem-uh-rate)
verb, to honor or remember
unconscious," recalls Lewis. He
now represents Georgia in the
U.S. House of Representatives.
Six days earlier, another bus was
attacked by a mob near Anniston,
Alabama. The crowd smashed
the bus's windows with bats and
pipes. Someone tossed a firebomb
into a broken window. The riders
managed to escape before the bus
went up in flames.
The passengers targeted by this
violence were known as the
Freedom Riders. This group of
activists, made up of both black
people and white people, came
together 50 years ago to challenge
racism in the South. Their bus
4 SCHOLASTIC NEWS EDITION .S/6 • FEBRUARY 14, 2011
journeys were among the most
important events in the struggle
for civil rights.
An Era of Injustice
In the early 1960s, segregation,
or the separation of people by
race, was an accepted way of life
in the South. "Whites only" signs
were a common sight. AfricanAmericans were used to having
separate drinking fountains and
bathrooms in public places,
including bus stations.
"We had to sit in the back [of
the bus], go to a separate waiting
room, a separate restroom,"
Representative Lewis told
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Freedom Rides
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Freedom Riders
enter a bus station in
Jackson, Mississippi.
Scholastic News Kid Reporter
Henry Dunkelberger. "I didn't like
it, and I wanted to change that."
The U.S. Supreme Court had
ruled that segregation on buses
and in bus stations was illegal. But
many states in the South still had
laws that kept whites and blacks
separate. The Freedom Riders
wanted to show the American
public that a lot still needed to
change in some parts of the South.
Their plan was simple. Black
and white riders would sit together
on the buses. At each stop, the
riders would attempt to enter
whites-only areas of bus stations.
If arrested, they would go to jail
without a fight. Each rider was
committed to nonviolence. No
matter what happened, they
weren't going to fight back.
Bravery Pays Off
The first group of Freedom
Riders left Washington, D.C., on
May 4, 1961. The violence they later
faced in Alabama wasn't the last of
their troubles. On May 24, Lewis
and dozens of other riders were
thrown in jail. They were trying
to desegregate a bus station in
Jackson, Mississippi.
Despite these obstacles, the
riders were determined to keep
going. "Never ever during the
Freedom Ride," Lewis says, "did
I ever think about giving up."
Their courage paid off. The
riders' struggles made headlines
across the country. As a result,
many more people joined the
Freedom Rides and supported the
civil rights movement.
The U.S. government also took
action. President John F. Kennedy
sent federal troops to protect
riders during the rest of their
journey. The agency in charge of
travel between states also took a
stand. Segregation in bus and train
terminals nationwide finally
ended on November 1, 1961.
In May of this year, Lewis and
other original riders will be on the
road again. To commemorate the
50th anniversary of the Freedom
Rides, they will retrace their 1961
journey. Lewis hopes to remind
people why "whites only" signs are
a thing of the past. "Because of
what we did . . . those signs came
tumbling down," he says.
—Laura Modigliani, with
Scholastic News Kid Reporter
Henry Dunkelberger
A Leader,
Then and Now
~ s a young man, John Lewis
was inspired by Martin
Luther King Jr.'s message of
using peaceful ways to work
for equality. Lewis later
became chairman of the
—
Student Nonviolent
Coordinating
Committee
^ ^ A (SNCC).one
'
I of the key
I civil rights
'
J groups of
^ the 1960s.
In 1963, he
worked with
King to help organize the
famous iMarch on Washington.
Lewis, now age 70, still
works for causes he believes
in. He is currently serving his
13th term in the U.S. House of
Representatives.
)^
MORE ONLINE
Watch a video of Kid
Reporter Henry Dunkeiberger's
interview with John Lewis at:
www.scholastic.com/Kidspress
SCHOLASTIC NEWS EDITION 5/6 • FEBRUARY 14. 2010 5
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