[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 26 (Wednesday, March 3, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E284-E285]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING FREEDOM RIDES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 3, 2004

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I would like to honor the 
Freedom Ride efforts sought to accelerate changes in the South, which 
had been so inadequately brought about in the courts. As a 13-year-old 
boy in Bolton, MS, I can recall the surmounted tension in the State of 
Mississippi in 1961. In tribute to the freedom riders, I would like to 
submit the following excerpt from Juan Williams' Eyes on the Prize.

       In 1947, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) planned a 
     ``Journey of Reconciliation,'' designed to test the Supreme 
     Court's 1946 decision in the Irene Morgan case, which 
     declared segregated seating of interstate passengers 
     unconstitutional. An interracial group of passengers met with 
     heavy resistance in the upper South. Some members of the 
     group served on a chain gang after their arrest in North 
     Carolina. The Journey of Reconciliation quickly broke down. 
     Clearly the South, even the more moderate upper South, was 
     not ready for integration.
       Nearly a decade and a half later, John F. Kennedy was 
     elected president, in large part due to widespread support 
     among blacks who believed that Kennedy was more sympathetic 
     to the civil rights movement than his opponent, Richard 
     Nixon. Once in office, however, Kennedy proved less committed 
     to the movement than he had appeared during the campaign. To 
     test the president's commitment to civil rights, CORE 
     proposed a new Journey of Reconciliation, dubbed the 
     ``Freedom Ride.'' The strategy was the same: an interracial 
     group would board buses destined for the South. The whites 
     would sit in the back and the blacks in the front. At rest 
     stops, the whites would go into blacks-only areas and vice 
     versa. ``This was not civil disobedience, really,'' explained 
     CORE director James Farmer, ``because we [were] merely doing 
     what the Supreme Court said we had a right to do.'' But the 
     Freedom Riders expected to meet resistance. ``We felt we 
     could count on the racists of the South to create a crisis so 
     that the federal government would be compelled to enforce the 
     law,'' said Farmer. ``When we began the ride I think all of 
     us were prepared for as much violence as could be thrown 
     at us. We were prepared for the possibility of death.''
       The Freedom Ride left Washington DC on May 4, 1961. It was 
     scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17, the seventh 
     anniversary of the Brown decision. Unlike the original 
     Journey of Reconciliation, the Freedom Ride met little 
     resistance in the upper South.
       On Mother's Day, May 14, the Freedom Riders split up into 
     two groups to travel through Alabama. The first group was met 
     by a mob of about 200 angry people in Anniston. The mob 
     stoned the bus and slashed the tires. The bus managed to get 
     away, but when it stopped about six miles out of town to 
     change the tires, it was firebombed. The other group did not 
     fare any better. It was greeted by a mob in Birmingham, and 
     the Riders were severely beaten. Birmingham's Public Safety 
     Commissioner, Bull Conner, claimed he posted no officers at 
     the bus depot because of the holiday; however, it was later 
     discovered that the FBI knew of the planned attack and that 
     the city police stayed away on purpose. Alabama governor John 
     Patterson offered no apologies, explaining, ``When you go 
     somewhere looking for trouble, you usually find it . . . . 
     You just can't guarantee the safety of a fool and that's what 
     these folks are, just fools.''
       Despite the violence, the Freedom Riders were determined to 
     continue. Jim Peck, a white who had fifty stitches from the 
     beatings he received, insisted, ``I think it is particularly 
     important at this time when it has become national news that 
     we continue and show that nonviolence can prevail over 
     violence.'' The bus company, however, did not want to risk 
     losing another bus to a bombing, and its drivers, who were 
     all white, did not want to risk their lives. After two days 
     of unsuccessful negotiations, the Freedom Riders, fearing for 
     their safety, flew to New Orleans. It appeared that the 
     Freedom Ride was over.
       At that point, however, a group of Nashville sit-in 
     students decided to go to Birmingham and continue the Freedom 
     Ride. Diane Nash, who helped organize the group, later 
     explained, ``If the Freedom Riders had been stopped as a 
     result of violence, I strongly felt that the future of the 
     movement was going to be cut short. The impression would have 
     been that whenever a movement starts, all [you have to do] is 
     attack it with massive violence and the blacks [will] stop.'' 
     The Nashville students traveled to Birmingham and asked the 
     bus company to let them use their buses. Attorney general 
     Kennedy also leaned on the bus company and the Birmingham 
     police. He was determined to enforce the Supreme Court's 
     decision that called for integration of interstate travel, 
     and he worried that if the Nashville students remained in 
     Birmingham much longer, violence might erupt. On May 17, the 
     Birmingham police arrested the Nashville Freedom Riders and 
     placed them in protective custody. At 2 AM on Friday, the 
     police drove the Riders back to Tennessee, dumping them by 
     the side of the highway at the state line. After they got a 
     ride back to Nashville, 100 miles away, they went right back 
     to Birmingham.
       Meanwhile, Governor Patterson agreed to meet with John 
     Seigenthaler, a Justice Department aide and a native of 
     Tennessee. In the meeting, Floyd Mann, head of the state 
     highway patrol, agreed to protect the Freedom Riders in 
     between Birmingham. Attorney General Robert Kennedy then 
     pressured the Greyhound bus company, which finally agreed to 
     carry the Riders. The Freedom Riders left Birmingham on 
     Saturday, May 20. State police promised ``that a private 
     plane would fly over the bus, and there would be a state 
     patrol car every fifteen or twenty miles along the highway 
     between Birmingham and Montgomery--about ninety miles,'' 
     recalled Freedom Rider John Lewis. Police protection, 
     however, disappeared as the Freedom Riders entered the 
     Montgomery city limits. The bus terminal was quiet. ``And 
     then, all of a sudden, just like magic, white people 
     everywhere,'' said Freedom Rider Frederick Leonard. The 
     Riders considered leaving by the back of the bus in hopes 
     that the mob would not be quite as vicious.

[[Page E285]]

     But Jim Zwerg, a white rider, bravely marched off the bus 
     first. The other riders slipped off while the mob focused on 
     pummeling Zwerg. Floyd Mann tried to stop the mob, but it 
     continued to beat the Riders and those who came to their aid, 
     such as Justice Department official John Seigenthaler, who 
     was beaten unconscious and left in the street for nearly a 
     half an hour after he stopped to help two Freedom Riders. 
     Mann finally ordered in state troopers, but the damage was 
     already done. When news of the Montgomery attack reached 
     Washington, Robert Kennedy was not happy. He decided to send 
     federal marshals to the city.
       Martin Luther King, Jr., flew to Montgomery and held a mass 
     meeting, surrounded by federal marshals, in support of the 
     Freedom Riders. As night fell, a mob of several thousand 
     whites surrounded the church. The blacks could not leave 
     safely. At 3 AM, King called Robert Kennedy and Kennedy 
     called Governor Patterson. Patterson declared martial law and 
     sent in state police and the National Guard. The mob 
     dispersed and the blacks left safely.
       After the violence at the church, Robert Kennedy asked for 
     a cooling-off period. The Freedom Riders, however, were 
     intent on continuing. James Farmer explained, ``[W]e'd been 
     cooling off for 350 years, and . . . if we cooled off any 
     more, we'd be in a deep freeze.'' The Riders decided to 
     continue on to Mississippi. They were given good protection 
     as they entered the state, and no mob greeted them at the 
     Jackson bus terminal. ``As we walked through, the police just 
     said, `Keep moving' and let us go through the white side,'' 
     recalled Frederick Leonard. ``We never got stopped. They just 
     said `Keep moving,' and they passed us right on through the 
     white terminal into the paddy wagon and into jail.'' Robert 
     Kennedy and Mississippi Senator James O. Eastland had reached 
     a compromise. Kennedy promised not to use federal troops if 
     there was no mob violence. Both men kept up their end of the 
     bargain. Unfortunately, the Freedom Riders were now at the 
     mercy of the local courts. On May 25, they were tried. As 
     their attorney defended them, the judge turned his back. Once 
     the attorney finished, he turned around and sentenced them to 
     60 days in the state penitentiary.
        More Freedom Riders arrived in Jackson to continue the 
     Freedom Ride, and they were arrested too. Freedom Riders 
     continued to arrive in the South, and by the end of the 
     summer, more than 300 had been arrested.
       The Freedom Riders never made it to New Orleans. Many spent 
     their summer in jail. Some were scarred for life from the 
     beatings they received. But their efforts were not in vain. 
     They forced the Kennedy administration to take a stand on 
     civil rights, which was the intent of the Freedom Ride in the 
     first place. In addition, the Interstate Commerce Commission, 
     at the request of Robert Kennedy, outlawed segregation in 
     interstate bus travel in a ruling, more specific than the 
     original Supreme Court mandate, that took effect in 
     September, 1961. The Freedom Riders may not have finished 
     their trip, but they made an important and lasting 
     contribution to the civil rights movement.

  The Freedom Rides mark one of the most despicable chapters in our 
history on the part of the Democratic administration at every level of 
government. They mark one of the most courageous and uplifting periods 
of time, as evidenced by the courage and determination of those who put 
their bodies and their lives on the line to end racial segregation and 
win social justice in this country.
  The Freedom Rides and sit-ins showed the potential that human beings 
have. It was a time when ordinary people did extraordinary things, and 
the number of heroes was too great to be counted!

                          ____________________