On May 4, 1961, a group of six whites and seven African Americans departed from Washington D.C. to begin their fight for Civil Rights. Their goal was to end segregation in bus terminals and in all transportation stations. These people were called the Freedom Riders. They fought to prove that “separate but equal” was not truly equal. They wanted to end the Jim Crow laws, and this was just one of the many ways they fought.
In 1986, the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case enacted the “separate but equal” laws in which African Americans and whites were given separate conditions that were said to be equal. However, these conditions always made the African Americans inferior to the whites. This doctrine was overturned in 1954 when the Brown v. Board of Education case made segregation in schools unconstitutional. Although the doctrine was overturned, many of the Jim Crow laws were still enforced.
The original group of Freedom Riders was recruited and organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). They were modeled after CORE’s original group that participated in the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation. They left from Washington D.C. on a Greyhound bus on May 4, 1961. Their goal was to make it to New Orleans, Louisiana, by May 17 to …show more content…
They continued their journey onward. On May 24, 1961, the riders left Montgomery and headed for Jackson, Mississippi. Upon arrival, the riders were greeted by hundreds of supporters of their cause. Many of the Freedom Riders attempted to use white-only facilities and were arrested for trespassing and were taken to the maximum-security penitentiary in Parchman, Mississippi. At the hearings, the judge turned around rather than listening to what the Freedom Riders had to say. The riders were sentenced to thirty days in jail. However, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) appealed the convictions all the way to the Supreme Court. There, the convictions were
In 1986, the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case enacted the “separate but equal” laws in which African Americans and whites were given separate conditions that were said to be equal. However, these conditions always made the African Americans inferior to the whites. This doctrine was overturned in 1954 when the Brown v. Board of Education case made segregation in schools unconstitutional. Although the doctrine was overturned, many of the Jim Crow laws were still enforced.
The original group of Freedom Riders was recruited and organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). They were modeled after CORE’s original group that participated in the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation. They left from Washington D.C. on a Greyhound bus on May 4, 1961. Their goal was to make it to New Orleans, Louisiana, by May 17 to …show more content…
They continued their journey onward. On May 24, 1961, the riders left Montgomery and headed for Jackson, Mississippi. Upon arrival, the riders were greeted by hundreds of supporters of their cause. Many of the Freedom Riders attempted to use white-only facilities and were arrested for trespassing and were taken to the maximum-security penitentiary in Parchman, Mississippi. At the hearings, the judge turned around rather than listening to what the Freedom Riders had to say. The riders were sentenced to thirty days in jail. However, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) appealed the convictions all the way to the Supreme Court. There, the convictions were