Freedom Riders
Civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of Supreme Court decisions banning segregated public buses. The first Freedom Ride left Washington, D.C. on 4 May 1961; riders were attacked by white mobs, often with police cooperation, and arrested under Jim Crow laws. Organized by CORE and SNCC, the rides and the violent reactions they provoked drew national attention to Southern disregard for federal law and bolstered the civil rights movement.
Related events (1 degree away • 2 degrees away)
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