![]() In honor of the 50th anniversary, Oprah has gathered 178 survivors of the Freedom Rides-including 95-year-old George Houser, the last surviving member of the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation-together to express her admiration. Little did they know, the Freedom Riders, which totaled 436 by the end of the movement, would change the course of American history. They hoped these peaceful demonstrations would force the government to step up and protect their civil rights. The movement was organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), which trained the Freedom Riders to be nonviolent and protest without ever striking back. Along the way, the Riders would test federal laws that prohibited segregation by riding in the front of buses and sitting in waiting rooms designated "whites only" and "colored." It was dangerous and daring-some even considered it a suicide mission. The Freedom Riders would buy tickets on interstate buses for a two-week journey that would end in New Orleans. That day, 13 men and women boarded two buses bound for the Deep South, a region plagued by racial injustice. I know my life would be were it not for them."įifty years ago, on May 4, 1961, the Freedom Rides began in Washington, D.C. "The lives of millions of you watching at home would be dramatically different. "For many of you watching, I know that this may be the first time you're even hearing about the Freedom Rides, but let me tell you, if it were not for these American heroes, this country would be a very different place right now," Oprah says. They called themselves the Freedom Riders. Then, in the spring and summer of 1961, a courageous coalition of men and women-black and white, young and old-boarded buses in protest of these discriminatory practices. Supreme Court outlawed these racist practices, but many white southerners continued to follow their own set of rules. ![]() And on buses and trains, black citizens were told to sit in the back. Despite efforts to end segregation, Jim Crow laws still forced black people to use separate water fountains, public restrooms and waiting rooms. That same year, the United States put its first man into space, and popular TV shows like Leave It to Beaver and The Andy Griffith Show depicted the all-American life.īut those idyllic images were not reflective of life for many African-Americans, especially in the Deep South. Kennedy was sworn in as America's 35th president, and the Camelot era was, for many, a time of hope and optimism.
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