Freedom Fighters Paper History Research Paper Essay

Investigating the Challenges Freedom Riders Faced in Fighting for Equality
David Stroupe
American Public University System
HIST 409 D001
Professor Spring
Submission Date
Investigating the Challenges Freedom Riders Faced in Fighting for Equality
Introduction
The world has faced several discrimination cases over time, but gladly the situation is changing exponentially. We attribute these changes to different groups, including the Freedom Riders. Dating back to the 19th century, the United States recorded several cases of racial discrimination. Sadly, some leaders over this period implemented policies that promoted discrimination. Before 1960, different races were not allowed to mingle while traveling in the US. The whites used various and exclusive facilities like the restrooms and terminals from the blacks until Supreme Court's ruling dubbed Boynton v. Virginia of 1960. This is despite the 1946 ruling by the US Supreme Court that illegalized racial discrimination in interstate travels. The Freedom Riders purposed to test whether the federal government would enforce the Boynton v. Virginia ruling. This paper explores the challenges the Freedom Riders encountered in their fight for equality. It argues that the freedom riders faced opposition from groups organized by government officials, paid goons from Ku Klux Klan, and even being lured into traps through fake promises of support from government officials with hidden agenda to arrest and jail the freedom riders.[Baylor, “Boynton v. Virginia,” When a bus carrier has volunteered to make terminal and restaurant facilities and services available to its interstate passengers as a regular part of their transportation, and the terminal and restaurant have acquiesced and cooperated in this undertaking, the terminal and restaurant must perform these services without discriminations prohibited by the Act. Pp. 364 U. S. 457–461, (315)]
Significance of the Paper
As a history student, I should research all historical events, both major and minor events. During the colonial and pre-colonial periods, the world went through tough times of discrimination, prejudice, persecution, and other injustices against certain races and ethnicities. In the United States, blacks, Asians, and Indians went through many injustices at the colonizers' hands and the native Americans. Slave trade was a lucrative business with the cartels in the farming industry capturing Africans from West Africa and shipping them to the US. Those who captured many sold others to those who did not have slaves. Similarly, those who had finished working on their farms sold the slaves to others who still had work to do on the farms. Among the groups that fought for equality are the freedom riders who rode on interstate buses championing the administrations to enforce the anti-segregation laws in 1961 and other years that followed. They faced several challenges in their encounter.[Da Silva, “The Atlantic slave trade from west Central Africa, 1780–1867,” During the 18th century, the slave trade had expanded largely because of demand for labor (17)]
This topic is important in informing us of the challenges that freedom fighters went through in their quest to free their people and themselves from the cartels' injustices. It also informs us of the people who played a significant role in pursuing freedom and equality in how different races and ethnic groups are treated. Gaining the knowledge will then gauge the progress of equality, freedom, and justice in the world. Therefore, researching the challenges that freedom riders faced helps us appreciate where we have come from and guides us in making current and future decisions related to freedom and justice.
The Historiography of the Topic
Freedom riders refer to a group of civil rights advocates who championed the enforcement of anti-segregation laws in the US by riding in interstate buses in 1961 and the subsequent years. In 1946 and 1960, respectively, the US supreme court had made two rulings, Morgan v. Virginia and Boynton v. Virginia, respectively, ruling unconstitutional the segregation of people in public buses. However, the Southern State failed to enforce both the rulings, inspiring the freedom riders to champion for equality through full enforcement of the constitution. The fight for freedom began on 4 May 1961 when the first freedom riders' bus left Washington DC and intended to arrive in New Orleans on 17 May.[Arsenault, Raymond. Freedom riders: 1961 and the struggle for racial justice. Oxford University Press, 2007 (7)]
Jim Crow travel laws remained in force years after some rulings declaring unconstitutional the laws of segregation on a racial basis. In 1955, the Interstate Commerce Commission, ICC, issued a landmark ruling, Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, denouncing the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling maxim of separate but equal interstate bus travel. However, in 1960, Boynton v. Virginia outlawed racial discrimination in bus termini, where the blacks and the whites did not share washrooms and the waiting bays. This came long after ICC failed to enforce previous laws related to the Boynton v. Virginia ruling.[Arsenault, “Freedom riders,” Plessy v. Ferguson, the cornerstone of the “separate but equal” doctrine that had sustained the segregationists' law since 1986, and the court had refused revisit in any fundamental way (16).]
To protest the non-enforcement of the laws by the Southern States prompted the freedom riders to protest. They rode interstate buses to the South in mixed races to challenge the status quo. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, SNCC, and the Congress of Racial Equality, CORE sponsored the rides, which the Boynton v. Virginia ruling fully supported. However, this did not go well with them as they faced a myriad of challenges from the authorities and hired goons from the Ku Klux Klan and the police, who termed the rides as a criminal offense.[van Kessel and Ryan, "Villainification and evil in social studies education," As two buses neared Birmingham, Alabama, local law enforcement, under the leadership of Birmingham Public Safety Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor, coordinated with a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan to allow the Klansmen to attack the bus without arrests being made (2).]
Challenges the Freedom Riders Faced
The Southern states and other people who enjoyed the segregation laws did not receive well the step Freedom Riders took to protest the government's non-enforcement of the Supreme Court ruling of Morgan v. Virginia (1946) and the Boynton v. Virginia (1960). The verdict of the two rulings termed unconstitutional segregation of races in buses and other travel termini. The federal government was aware of the Southern State's defiance of these rulings, yet it did not take any action. The Morgan v. Virginia (1946) decision banned the segregation of races in interstate bus travels, while Boynton v. Virginia decision ruled unconstitutional the racial discrimination witnessed in the waiting room and restaurants in interstate bus terminals. However, the Freedom Riders discovered more facts during their ride. The Southern State supported the discrimination of races in bus travels.
The first Freedom Ride took off on 4 May 1961, led by Congress of Racial Equality, CORE Director James Farmer. The group comprised thirteen riders with seven blacks and six whites between 18 and thirty years. CORE and Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, SNCC sponsored the riders who planned to start from Washington DC and ride through Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, then ending the ride in New Orleans, Louisiana, where a civil rights rally was planned (Andrews, 2018). The riders planned to break the segregation rules in the South by having a black sitting on the front seat dedicated for whites and the rest scattered throughout the bus in their plan to implement the protest. One of the buses would follow the required order to rescue those arrested and report to CORE and SNCC of any arrests. They began facing problems right from Virginia, with one of them getting injured.
The first major violence the Freedom Riders came across was the mob violence in Anniston and Birmingham. Birmingham police commissioner Bull Connor colluded with the police sergeant, Tom Cook, a huge supporter of the Ku Klux Klan organized the local Klan members to attack the Riders before moving out of Alabama. In the plan, the mob will get fifteen minutes to attack the Riders without any arrest. This plan was to facilitate an initial at Anniston then finalize their mission on a second attack at Birmingham.[van Kessel and Ryan, "Villainification and evil in social studies education," As two buses neared Birmingham, Alabama, local law enforcement, under the leadership of Birmingham Public Safety Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor, coordinated with a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan to allow the Kla...