HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 05-04-2021; 4-e - Proclamation Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides 1
ORANGE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
Meeting Date: May 4, 2021
Action Agenda
Item No. 4-e
SUBJECT: Proclamation Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides
DEPARTMENT: Board of Commissioners
ATTACHMENT (S): INFORMATION CONTACT:
Proclamation Laura Jensen, 245-2130
PURPOSE: To approve a proclamation commemorating the 60t" anniversary of the Freedom
Rides.
BACKGROUND: On May 4, 1961, thirteen black and white civil rights advocates boarded
buses in Washington, DC, to begin a journey on interstate highways through Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The Freedom Riders sought to
challenge the enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions in Morgan v. Virginia
[1946] and Boynton v. Virginia [1960], which ruled that segregation in bathrooms, waiting rooms,
lunch counters, and in interstate transportation facilities, including bus terminals, was
unconstitutional.
The Freedom Rides occurred during a time when the Civil Rights movement was gathering
momentum, when African American in the South were routinely harassed and subjected to
segregation by Jim Crow laws. The Congress of Racial Equality ("CORE") organized the
Freedom Rides under the leadership of James Farmer. CORE sought application from diverse
men and women of various ages from across the United States. Among the first thirteen
selected was Reverend Benjamin Elton Cox, a retired minister at Pilgrim Congregation Church
in High Point, North Carolina. The Honorable John Lewis, then 21, represented the Nashville
Branch of CORE and was a member of the original thirteen Freedom Riders. The original froup
of Freedom Riders prepared by completing a few days of training on role-playing, preparing how
to respond to nonviolent ways to harassment.
• May 4, 1961 - Greyhound and Trailways buses leave Washington, DC for New Orleans.
John Lewis and another rider beaten in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
• May 8, 1961 - Joseph Perkins is the first Freedom Rider to be arrested after sitting at a
whites only shoe-shine stand in Charlotte, NC. John Lewis is assaulted in the
Greyhound bus terminal of Rock Hill, SC, after attempting to enter the white waiting
room with fellow Freedom Rider Al Bigelow.
• May 12, 1961 — Freedom Riders warned of violence ahead by Martin Luther King.
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• May 14, 1961 - Anniston officials give Klu Klux Klan permission to attack riders without
consequences. The Greyhound bus door was held closed outside Anniston, Alabama
while the Freedom Riders were inside and the mob fire bombed the bus. The mob then
attacked the Riders as they fled the bus.
• When the Trailways bus reached Anniston, eight Klansman boarded the bus, attacked
and beat the Freedom Riders. In Birmingham, Alabama, the riders were attacked as
police and local officials watched as the mob beat the non-violent Freedom Riders with
baseball bats, iron pipes and bicycle chains.
• May 20, 1961 - Police escort abandons Freedom Riders. The Riders attacked again in
Montgomery, Alabama leaving Congressman Lewis unconscious in a pool of blood
outside the Greyhound bus terminal. Compounding all of this was a lack of medical
assistance that Black bus riders could receive for injuries received.
• May 23, 1961 - The Riders board buses from Montgomery to Jackson, MS under
National Guard escort. They are jailed upon arrival under the formal charges of
incitement to riot, breach of the peace, and failure to obey a police officer.
• June 1961 - Freedom Riders are transferred to Mississippi's notorious Parchman State
Prison Farm. Segregationist authorities attempt to break their spirits by removing
mattresses from the cells. New Freedom Riders continue to arrive in Jackson, MS and be
jailed throughout summer.
Approximately 450 women and men, from May 4 through December 10, 1961, participated in
the Freedom Rides. The Freedom Riders persisted in their fight for justice, and eventually their
activism influenced and changed the landscape of race relations, civil rights, and human rights
in the United States. The success of the Freedom Rides showed that nonviolent direct action
could do more than simply claim the moral high ground; in many situations, it could deliver
better tactical results than either violent confrontation or gradual change through established
legal mechanisms.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with consideration of the
proclamation.
SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: The following Social Justice Goal is applicable to this agenda
item:
• GOAL: FOSTER A COMMUNITY CULTURE THAT REJECTS OPPRESSION AND
INEQUITY
The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race or color;
religious or philosophical beliefs; sex, gender or sexual orientation; national origin or
ethnic background; age; military service; disability; and familial, residential or economic
status.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: There is no Orange County Environmental Responsibility Goal
impact associated with this item.
RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve the
proclamation commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Rides and authorize the
Chair to sign the proclamation.
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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
A PROCLAMATION
COMMEMORATING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FREEDOM RIDES
WHEREAS, on May 4, 1961, thirteen Black and white civil rights advocates boarded Greyhound and
Trailways buses in Washington, DC, to begin a journey to New Orleans, Louisiana, riding side by side,
on interstate highways through the Jim Crow South—through Virginia,North Carolina, South Carolina
Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, the Freedom Rides involved approximately 450 women and men, from May 4 through
December 10, 1961,who sought to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court
decisions in Morgan v. Virginia E1946] and Boynton v. Virginia E1960] which ruled that
segregation in interstate transportation facilities, including bus terminals, was
unconstitutional; and
WHEREAS, the Southern states had ignored the rulings and the federal government had done nothing
to enforce the rulings; and
WHEREAS, the Congress of Racial Equality [CORE] and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee [SNCC] sponsored the Freedom Rides and worked in collaboration with the Nashville
Student Movement and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; and
WHEREAS, the Freedom Riders were inspired by the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation led by Bayard
Rustin and George Houser and co-sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the then-fledgling
CORE, and like the Freedom Rides of 1961, the Journey of Reconciliation was intended to test an earlier
Supreme Court ruling that banned racial discrimination in interstate travel; and
WHEREAS, the Freedom Riders encountered mob violence, fire bombings, and police brutality, and
arrest and incarceration for trespassing, unlawful assembly, violating state and local Jim Crow laws and
other alleged offenses; and
WHEREAS, President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy called for a "cooling
off period" and condemned the Freedom Rides as unpatriotic because they embarrassed the nation on
the world stage at the height of the Cold War,to which James Farmer responded, "We have been cooling
off for 350 years, and if we cooled off any more, we'd be in a deep freeze"; and
WHEREAS, the Freedom Riders persisted in their fight for justice, and eventually their activism,
influenced and changed the landscape of race relations, civil rights and human rights in the United
States;
NOW THEREFORE, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, on behalf of the people of
Orange County, hereby proclaims May 2021 as Freedom Riders Month in Orange County in
Commemoration of this 60th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides and in tribute to the Freedom
Riders, the women and men who fought for justice in the United States of America.
This the 41h Day of May, 2021.
Renee Price,Chair
Orange County Board of Commissioners