John Lewis Discusses Reenacting Historic Bus Rides of 1961
https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=3671
General Information
Source:
Creator:
NBC Today Show
Soledad O'Brien
Resource Type:
Copyright:
Event Date:
Air/Publish Date:
05/04/1961
05/12/2001
Copyright Date:
Clip Length
Video News Report
NBCUniversal Media,
LLC.
2001
00:03:40
Description
In 1961, a dozen or so friends decided to test a new Supreme Court ruling in the case Boynton v. Virginia
that banned the forced separation of whites and blacks in interstate travel. The friends became known as
the Freedom Riders, a mix of African-Americans and whites riding various forms of public transportation
in the South to challenge the era of segregation. Congressman John Lewis from Georgia, one of the
original Freedom Riders, discusses the original goals of the Freedom Riders.
Keywords
Freedom, Riders, Rides, Segregation, Congressman, Represenative, John Lewis, Race, Racism, Interracial
, Whites, Blacks, African Americans, Violence, Intimidation, Firebombed, Firebombing, President, John
F. Kennedy, JFK, Civil, Rights, Movement, Martin Luther King, MLK, Supreme Court, SCOTUS,
Decision, Ruling, Case, Congress of Racial Equality, CORE, Student Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee, SNCC, Boynton v. Virginia, 364 U.S. 454 (1960), Lesson Plan, Teaching Tolerance
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Citation
MLA
"John Lewis Discusses Reenacting Historic Bus Rides of 1961." Soledad O'Brien, correspondent. NBC
Today Show. NBCUniversal Media. 12 May 2001. NBC Learn. Web. 21 November 2015
APA
O'Brien, S. (Reporter). 2001, May 12. John Lewis Discusses Reenacting Historic Bus Rides of 1961.
[Television series episode]. NBC Today Show. Retrieved from https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k12/browse/?cuecard=3671
CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
"John Lewis Discusses Reenacting Historic Bus Rides of 1961" NBC Today Show, New York, NY: NBC
Universal, 05/12/2001. Accessed Sat Nov 21 2015 from NBC Learn:
https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=3671
Transcript
John Lewis Discusses Reenacting Historic Bus Rides of 1961
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, co-host:
Forty years ago, a dozen or so friends decided to test a new ruling that banned the forced separation of
whites and blacks in interstate travel. They became known as Freedom Riders, and they paved the way for
the civil rights struggle. John Lewis joined the original rides. He is now a Congressman from Georgia.
Well, today they're retracing their steps from the spring of '61.
Congressman Lewis, good morning to you. Thanks for joining us.
Representative JOHN LEWIS (Democrat, Georgia): Good morning. I'm delighted to be with you this
morning.
O'BRIEN: Well, thank you very much, and we are delighted to have you. The Freedom Rides were a
critical event, not only in American history but, of course, in the struggle for racial equality. But when you
set out on that--those days back in '61, what were your goals?
Rep. LEWIS: Our goals was not just to end segregation and racial discrimination in areas of public
transportation, but it was also to take the civil rights movement into the heart of the Deep South. Back in
1961, all across the South, when you attempted to board a bus, you saw those signs that said white men,
colored men, white women, colored women, white waiting, colored waiting. Segregation was the order of
the day. There was a tremendous amount of fear when someone would board a bus in Washington, DC,
and try to travel through Virginia, through North Carolina and into South Carolina. And we were met by
violence in Anniston, Alabama, in Birmingham, in Montgomery, and we were jailed in Mississippi. It was
very dangerous, back in 1961, to get on a bus and travel in an interracial group through the South.
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O'BRIEN: I want to talk about that violence in just a moment. But first, here you are, 1961, a young man,
early 20s. Did you have any concept of the history that you were creating at the time? Were you nervous?
Were you excited?
Rep. LEWIS: Well, in 1961, you're right, I was only 21 years old, I had all of my hair and I was a few
pounds lighter. And we wanted to desegregate places of public transportation. I had been involved in the
sit-ins, I studied the philosophy and the discipline of nonviolence. But I was not concerned about making
history. I just wanted to change things. Like so many other young people, we didn't like what we saw.
O'BRIEN: Did you expect violence along the way? And tell me about some of the violence you did
experience.
Rep. LEWIS: Well, we were prepared for the violence. Some had suggested that there was a possibility
that we could even face death in some parts of the South back in 1961. Some of us, as young people,
wrote out wills, last statements. I remember so well the night of May 3rd, 1961. We went downtown,
Washington, DC, and had dinner together, and some people suggested that we should eat well because
this may be like the Last Supper.
O'BRIEN: In fact, your group was firebombed; they were beaten in some cases. As you stand in front of a
replica of the original bus, what are the goals now, 40 years later?
Rep. LEWIS: The goal now is to complete the effort that was started in 1961, and even before 1961. To
move America toward a truly interracial democracy. To build the beloved community. To build, what I
like to call, one house, one family, the American house, the American family. We all must live in this
house together. And it doesn't matter whether we are black or white or Hispanic or Asian American or
Native American, we all live in this house.
O'BRIEN: We wish you the best of luck in your travels in your re-enactment today and the next several
days. Congressman John Lewis...
Rep. LEWIS: Well, thanks--thank you very much.
O'BRIEN: ...and also the rest of the Freedom Riders.
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