This week marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the Freedom Riders campaign-- white activists who were determined to strike a blow for civil rights. On May 4, 1961, they boarded buses bound for New Orleans, intent on challenging segregation laws along the way.
At the time, a federal law mandated that all interstate transportation--such as Greyhound buses--be integrated. But in Alabama, Mississippi and other Southern states, the law was not enforced.
Of course, there were African-Americans who were part of the Freedom Rider campaign as well, but the point hinged on white people. The strategy was to force police in the South to defend segregation by arresting, jailing and, in many cases, beating other white people, thus causing an embarrassing spectacle.
Freedom Rider John Raines, now professor emeritus of religion at Temple University, was not part of the initial wave of activists--he boarded a bus out of St. Louis in July, when the violence awaiting Freedom Riders was well publicized.
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