Alabama Freedom Riders recall their fight for equal treatment
By Michael Sznajderman May 20, 2021
The Rev. Clyde L. Carter and his wife, Eva, stand next to a refurbished 1960s-era Greyhound bus at the Birmingham Public Library. Sixty years ago, Carter rode similar buses as part of the Freedom Rides in defiance of segregation. (Michael Sznajderman / Alabama NewsCenter)
Two Birmingham natives who participated 60 years ago in the historic Freedom Rides told their stories to an inquisitive and admiring crowd Wednesday evening at the Birmingham Public Library.
Catherine Burks-Brooks and the Rev. Clyde L. Carter weren’t on the first two buses that left Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961, that were attacked by pro-segregation mobs in Anniston and Birmingham. Rather, they were part of the subsequent wave of young blacks and whites who continued the rides on interstate buses later that month and through the summer of 1961 with the goal of permanently crushing segregated public tra
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May 4 marked the 60th anniversary of the start of the Freedom Rides. Here are five things to know about the movement that helped change the course of the nation
Anniston to honor 60th anniversary of Freedom Rides in Alabama with 2-day celebration
By Anthony Cook May 12, 2021
The history of the Freedom Rides in Anniston 60 years ago will be marked with events in the city this weekend. (Anthony Cook / Alabama NewsCenter and BCRI)
Three of the original Freedom Riders plan to make another trip to the city of Anniston this weekend – this time to be honored in recognition of the 60
th anniversary of the historic rides.
From May to September 1961, more than 60 Freedom Rides took place, during which more than 400 young Blacks and whites traveled shoulder to shoulder, challenging the Jim Crow transportation laws prohibiting Blacks and whites from sitting together on the bus. A Supreme Court ruling had struck down those laws, but cities across the South were ignoring it.