The immigrants tricked into traveling to Martha s Vineyard echo the cruel "Reverse Freedom Ride" hoax of 1962 that lured Black families from the segregated South to Minnesota with false promises of jobs, housing and Christmas dinner with Hubert Humphrey
<p>The segregationist White Citizens Councils hoped to use the media to dunk on northern liberals by sending poor African Americans north with false promises of jobs, housing and services. </p>
In the 1960s, Southern organizations tried sending African Americans to Northern states in a “cheap” PR stunt designed to embarrass and expose Northern liberals. It didn’t work.
Many people have heard of the Freedom Rides of 1961, when civil rights activists rode buses through the South to protest segregation. But most people have never heard of what happened the very next summer, when Southern segregationists decided to strike back.