WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)

Description

In this WSB newsfilm clip from August 14, 1961, civil rights workers return to Jackson, Mississippi to appeal their conviction for participation in the Freedom Rides.The clip begins with a Greyhound bus driving down the street and parking along the side of the road. The bus's windows are down and people are seen through the windows. An African American woman and two white women get off the bus; later a white man gets off the bus. The interracial group of men and women walk up a flight of stairs. Cameramen and policemen observe the group as it walks up the stairs. The clip ends with spectators watching the group enter the building.In 1961 the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organized a test of interstate transportation dubbed the Freedom Ride. The ride, patterned after the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, began in Washington D.C. on May 4, 1961 after three days of nonviolence training. The trip met little resistance through Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. However, on May 14, the two groups of riders were attacked in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama. Although the riders eventually flew to New Orleans on May 15, student civil rights workers from Nashville, Tennessee organized replacement riders to continue the journey. After several days of delay, on May 20, 1961, the reorganized Freedom Riders traveled from Birmingham to Montgomery. In Montgomery, the riders were again attacked by a white mob that beat the riders and several bystanders, including John Seigenthaler, personal assistant to attorney general...

Record Contributed By

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia