Nearly 200 years ago, after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, slavery was no longer allowed; but America was still segregated. Segregation in many public places continued especially in the South. At this time, segregation was legal. In 1892, the Supreme Court had ruled that a state could separate whites and blacks as long as the services were equal. On May 4, 1961, a diverse group of thirteen courageous individuals known as the Freedom Riders embarked on a bus journey into the South in order to challenge segregation in bus terminals.
Although many individuals believed that segregation was wrong, many southern states continued to practice racial segregation. Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. Segregation may apply to a variety of situations. Before the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s laws, policies, and practices were aimed at segregating blacks. After the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in America, Jim Crow Laws regulated racial discrimination. Many states and local governments passed legislation to separate people of color from whites in many areas, such as, schools, housing, jobs, and public gathering places to name only a few. While millions of former slaves hoped to become equal citizens, some people continued to view African Americans as second-class citizens (Spartacus Educational).
Transportation was another area where blacks and whites were treated differently. The Montgomery, Alabama city code required that all public transportation be segregated. Almost 100 years after the Civil War, blacks had to sit separately from the whites. Seats could be assigned and blacks could be asked to give up their seats to white passengers. On December 1, 1955, Ro...
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For over 50 years, the southern states of the American enforced a policy of separate accommodations for blacks and whites on the buses and trains, and in hotels, theaters and schools. In 1890, the Louisiana State Legislature proposed the Separate Car Bill which segregated Blacks from Whites in separate but equal conditions on train cars. Violations of the law were considered as a misdemeanor crime that would give punishment by charge a fine of at most $25 or twenty days arrest in jail. Even though blacks superficially got their rights, but many of them still disagreed with the ruling, and felt that the separating blacks from whites in public facilities created inequality and marked one race as inferior to another.
In 1896 the Plessy v. Ferguson case made the segregation of blacks and whites legal; and the Supreme Court made the Jim Crow laws legal saying that blacks are “separate but equal.” African Americans knew that was unfair and could especially
For 75 years following reconstruction the United States made little advancement towards racial equality. Many parts of the nation enacted Jim Crowe laws making separation of the races not just a matter of practice but a matter of law. The laws were implemented with the explicit purpose of keeping black American’s from being able to enjoy the rights and freedoms their white counterparts took for granted. Despite the efforts of so many nameless forgotten heroes, the fate of African Americans seemed to be in the hands of a racist society bent on keeping them down; however that all began to change following World War II. Thousands of African American men returned from Europe with a renewed purpose and determined to break the proverbial chains segregation had keep them in since the end of the American Civil War. With a piece of Civil Rights legislation in 1957, the federal government took its first step towards breaking the bonds that had held too many citizens down for far too long. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was a watered down version of the law initially proposed but what has been perceived as a small step towards correcting the mistakes of the past was actually a giant leap forward for a nation still stuck in the muck of racial division. What some historians have dismissed as an insignificant and weak act was perhaps the most important law passed during the nation’s civil rights movement, because it was the first and that cannot be underestimated.
This documentary, “The Freedom Riders” shows the story of courageous civil rights activists called ‘Freedom Riders’ in 1961 who confronted institutionalized and culturally-accepted segregation in the American South by travelling around the Deep South on buses and trains.
Jim Crow. “What is Jim Crow?” You ask. “Is that a person?” No, actually, it is not. The term Jim Crow was a “colloquialism whites and blacks routinely used for the complex system of laws and customs separating races in the south” (Edmonds, Jim Crow: Shorthand for Separation). In other words, it was a set of laws and customs that people used that separated white people from the colored. The Jim Crow laws and practices deprived American citizens of the rights to vote, buses, and “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
28 April 2014 . Smith, Marian Holmes. " THe Freedom Riders." 2014. Infohio.
On December 5, 1955, thousands of African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama walked, carpooled, or hitchhiked to work in an act of rebellion against segregation on buses. This bus boycott was not the first of its kind – black citizens of Baton-Rouge, Louisiana had implemented the same two years prior – but the bus boycott in Montgomery was a critical battle of the Civil Rights Movement. Though the original intent of the boycott was to economically cripple the bus system until local politicians agreed to integrate the city’s buses, the Montgomery Bus Boycott impacted the fabric of society in a much deeper way. Instead of only changing the symptoms of a much larger problem, this yearlong protest was the first step in transforming the way all Americans
The Freedom Rides was a landmark event in the civil rights movement. The 1961 Freedom Rides were a series of organized interstate bus rides to the South, meant to challenge the discriminatory Jim Crow Laws. Although the Rides were a form of civil disobedience, technically, they were protesting peacefully to maintain the federal laws against discrimination.
Segregation, the separation of individuals by their race, was something that many African American experienced in their life after their freedom from slavery until the end of segregation around the mid-1900s. Southerners were less accepting of African Americans than their Northern counterparts. Southerners were often extremely cruel to African Americans, referring to them with demeaning names and physically hurting them, sometimes to the point of critical injury or death. During this time, James Meredith, a civil rights leader was born.
In 1964 there was a protest outside the US consulate in Canberra that two thousand people had attended to protest about racial segregation and civil rights in the United States. Many people of the general public stated things such as if protesters are going to so much trouble why not protest about racial segregation within our own country. These comments had lead to the making of our own Australian Freedom Riders which were based on the American Freedom Riders who were making a difference with civil rights and discrimination in America. They travelled across America to raise awareness of the issues when it came to the African-American’s rights and they helped achieve equality. The Australian Freedom Riders helped in achieving freedom for the Indigenous Australians just like the Americans.
After the emancipation of slaves in 1862, the status of African-Americans in post civil war America up until the beginning of the twentieth century did not go through a great deal of change. Much legislation was passed to help blacks in this period. The Civil Rights act of 1875 prohibited segregation in public facilities and various government amendments gave African-Americans even more guaranteed rights. Even with this government legislation, the newly dubbed 'freedmen' were still discriminated against by most people and, ironically, they were soon to be restricted and segregated once again under government rulings in important court cases of the era.
African Americans have a history of struggles because of racism and prejudices. Ever since the end of the Civil War, they struggled to benefit from their full rights that the Constitution promised. The fourteenth Amendment, which defined national citizenship, was passed in 1866. Even though African Americans were promised citizenship, they were still treated as if they were unequal. The South had an extremely difficult time accepting African Americans as equals, and did anything they could to prevent the desegregation of all races. During the Reconstruction Era, there were plans to end segregation; however, past prejudices and personal beliefs elongated the process.
...be enforced. Olds wrote, "The Freedom Riders were an integrated group of highly motivated, well-disciplined, dedicated people" and the Rides were "effective as a demonstrations of strength, a source of leverage for influential coalitions, and a means for focusing public attention on the issue of civil rights" (18). Those involved single-handedly expanded the freedoms of all African-American citizens to travel throughout the United States. During the rides, the civil rights struggle reached a level of intensity that even sit-ins had managed to avoid" but though times were turbulent, the rides were effective, furthering the advancement of the African American people (Arsenault 3).. Through the most violent and fearsome events, the Freedom Riders stood firm to their cause which led them to be one of the most influential and effective parts of the Civil Rights Movement.
On May 4,1961 a group of 7 African Americans and 6 Whites launched the historical Freedom Rides. This group of 13 brave americans set out to protest segregation in the interstate bus terminals. They knew what they were getting into but they didn't care. All they wanted was for everyone to be treated equal even if it cost them their lives. The Freedom Riders caught the attention of many by refusing to follow unfair laws, and by doing so they accomplished many things that positively affected everyones rights today.
Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, segregation in the United States was commonly practiced in many of the Southern and Border States. This segregation while supposed to be separate but equal, was hardly that. Blacks in the South were discriminated against repeatedly while laws did nothing to protect their individual rights. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ridded the nation of this legal segregation and cleared a path towards equality and integration. The passage of this Act, while forever altering the relationship between blacks and whites, remains as one of history’s greatest political battles.