Freedom Riders

Freedom Riders
Part of the Civil Rights Movement
Mugshots of Freedom Riders, as displayed at the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia
Date	May 4 – December 10, 1961 (7 months and 6 days)
Location	Southern United States, First Baptist Church, Parchman Farm and Jackson, Mississippi
Caused by	Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Racial segregation in interstate and intrastate transportation and public accommodations Failed compliance with ruling Morgan v. Virginia (1946) Journey of Reconciliation in 1947 Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company (1955) Ongoing boycott and sit-in demonstrations in the south Boynton v. Virginia (1960)
Resulted in	436 individuals participated in at least 60 separate Freedom Rides[1][2] First time "jail, no bail" tactic employed on large scale since the Nashville sit-ins Desegregation order from Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) recognized as a serious civil rights organization Creation of Route 40 campaign, Eastern Shore project, and Freedom Highways campaign Voter Education Project established
Parties
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Nashville Student Movement National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Governor of Mississippi Governor of Alabama Birmingham Police Commissioner Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
Lead figures
CORE members James Farmer Gordon Carey SNCC and Nashville Student Movement members Diane Nash John Lewis Bernard Lafayette James Bevel Governors Ross Barnett John M. Patterson City of Birmingham Eugene "Bull" Connor Tom Cook

Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions Morgan v. Virginia (1946) and Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional.^[3] The Southern states had ignored the rulings and the federal government did nothing to enforce them. The first Freedom Ride left Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961,^[4] and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17.^[5]

Boynton outlawed racial segregation in the restaurants and waiting rooms in terminals serving buses that crossed state lines.^[6] Five years prior to the Boynton ruling, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) had issued a ruling in Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company (1955) that had explicitly denounced the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) doctrine of separate but equal in interstate bus travel. The ICC failed to enforce its ruling, and Jim Crow travel laws remained in force throughout the South.^{[citation needed]}

The Freedom Riders challenged this status quo by riding interstate buses in the South in mixed racial groups to challenge local laws or customs that enforced segregation in seating. The Freedom Rides, and the violent reactions they provoked, bolstered the credibility of the American Civil Rights Movement. They called national attention to the disregard for the federal law and the local violence used to enforce segregation in the southern United States. Police arrested riders for trespassing, unlawful assembly, violating state and local Jim Crow laws, and other alleged offenses, but often they first let white mobs attack them without intervention.

The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) sponsored most of the subsequent Freedom Rides, but some were also organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The Freedom Rides, beginning in 1961, followed dramatic sit-ins against segregated lunch counters conducted by students and youth throughout the South, and boycotts of retail establishments that maintained segregated facilities.

The Supreme Court's decision in Boynton supported the right of interstate travelers to disregard local segregation ordinances. Southern local and state police considered the actions of the Freedom Riders to be criminal and arrested them in some locations. In some localities, such as Birmingham, Alabama, the police cooperated with Ku Klux Klan chapters and other white people opposing the actions, and allowed mobs to attack the riders.