2007-10-07 11:51:38 · 2 answers · asked by ~~xx{Stelth[k9]}xx~~ 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
A group of seven African Americans and six whites left Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961, on a Freedom Ride in two buses bound for New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Freedom Riders hoped to provoke the federal government into enforcing racial equality in transport. When they stopped along the way, white riders used facilities designated for blacks and vice versa.
The Freedom Riders encountered violence in South Carolina, but in Alabama the reaction was much more severe. On May 14, upon stopping outside of Anniston to change a slashed tire, one bus was firebombed and the Freedom Riders were beaten.
Arriving in Birmingham, the second bus was similarly attacked and the passengers beaten. In both cases law enforcement was suspiciously late in responding.
Other Freedom Rides came after that.
2007-10-10 05:41:24 · answer #1 · answered by Retired 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Freedom riders rode interstate buses to the US South to register black people to vote in the early 1960s.
2007-10-07 19:23:39 · answer #2 · answered by Howard H 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋