Freedom Riders movement celebrates 60th anniversary
Freedom Riders movement celebrates 60th anniversary By Bryan Henry | May 4, 2021 at 6:56 PM CDT - Updated May 4 at 6:56 PM
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - A major part of civil rights history came alive Tuesday in Montgomery - a ceremony to honor what happened 60 years ago this month.
Bernard Lafayette remembers it all too well.
“And they kicked me in the ribs,” said Lafayette, who said he had three cracked ribs.
Lafayette was all of 21 years old. He was on board a Greyhound bus during the growing but dangerous civil rights movement. Lafayette and more than 20 other riders got a “greeting” at the bus terminal that shocked the country. They were attacked by members of the Ku Klux Klan, assaulted with baseball bats, wooden boards and bricks.
The story of how the Freedom Riders revolutionized American travel, transit 60 years ago
The Montgomery Advertiser 2 hrs ago Safiya Charles, Montgomery Advertiser
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It’s hard to imagine today that only 60 years ago, boarding a Greyhound bus and taking a seat next to a passenger of another race was revolutionary; an act that could leave you flat out on the pavement or at risk of fatal harm.
But Montgomery’s Freedom Rides Museum is in the business of remembering.
For a decade, the museum has told the stories of more than 400 young men and women, Black and white the youngest of them 13 and the oldest 22 who boarded interstate buses headed south in the summer of 1961 with a strict purpose: to compel authorities to enforce Supreme Court decisions banning segregation on buses and in transportation facilities throughout the U.S.
It’s hard to imagine today that only 60 years ago, boarding a Greyhound bus and taking a seat next to a passenger of another race was revolutionary; an act that could leave you flat out on the pavement or at risk of fatal harm.
But Montgomery’s Freedom Rides Museum is in the business of remembering.
For a decade, the museum has told the stories of more than 400 young men and women, Black and white the youngest of them 13 and the oldest 22 who boarded interstate buses headed south in the summer of 1961 with a strict purpose: to compel authorities to enforce Supreme Court decisions banning segregation on buses and in transportation facilities throughout the U.S.