[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 6686-6687]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          HONORING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FREEDOM RIDERS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 4, 2011

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to honor the 
50th anniversary of the Freedom Riders and their incredibly courageous 
acts of resistance during the summer of 1961, when civil rights leaders 
launched the Freedom Rides to challenge the Jim Crow laws that upheld 
the segregated interstate bus systems.
  Indeed, I am privileged to serve with two of my esteemed colleagues, 
Representative John Lewis and Representative Bob Filner, Freedom Riders 
who blazed the trail in order that I might have the distinct honor to 
serve as the highest-ranking African American elected official in the 
state of Mississippi--an opportunity that would not have been possible 
without the personal sacrifices of the Freedom Riders in their quest 
for racial justice in this country.
  The Freedom Rides, an organized effort initiated by the Congress of 
Racial Equality (CORE), was a significant moment during the Civil 
Rights Movement, as young students were greeted with violent racial 
discrimination as they traveled from Washington, DC throughout the Jim 
Crow South to test the Supreme Court's ruling in Boynton v. Virginia 
(1960), which declared segregation in interstate bus and rail stations 
unconstitutional. Freedom Riders faced violent opposition and garnered 
broad media attention, which eventually forced Federal intervention 
from the Kennedy administration.
  The first Freedom Ride took place on May 4, 1961 when seven blacks 
and six whites left Washington, D.C., on two public buses bound for the 
Deep South. The Freedom Riders made it through Virginia and North 
Carolina without incident, but as they made it to Rock Hill, South 
Carolina, the Freedom Riders encountered violence and faced more 
resistance as they traveled further into the ``Deep South.''
  The ride continued to Anniston, Alabama, where on May 14th they were 
met by a violent mob of over 100 people. Before their arrival,

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Anniston local authorities had given permission to the Ku Klux Klan to 
strike against the Freedom Riders without fear of arrest.
  CORE leaders decided that letting violence end the trip would send 
the wrong signal to the country. On May 17, 1961, SNCC and the 
Nashville Student Movement rode from Nashville to Birmingham to resume 
the Freedom Rides.
  On May 29th, the Kennedy administration announced that it had 
directed the Interstate Commerce Commission to ban segregation in all 
facilities under its jurisdiction, but the rides continued as students 
from all over the country purchased bus tickets to the South and 
crowded into Mississippi jails. The Freedom Rides inspired sit-ins in 
public facilities and businesses across the South.
  Today, collectively, we must be ``Change Agents'' and continue to 
pursue the struggle for human, civil, and equal rights which are the 
legacy and spirit of the Freedom Riders and all of the brave men and 
women who made personal sacrifices during the Civil Rights Movement for 
justice and equality for all mankind.

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