Who - The

Freedom Riders were civil rights activists and were protesting for racial equality. These People were both black and white and varied from US representatives, to Reverends and were supported by two main organizations in their journey, one being CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), and another begin the SNCC (Student non-violent coordinating committee). How - The Freedom Riders planned to travel from Washington DC on May 4,
1961 and arrive in New Orleans on the 17th of the same month. On this route, they would be going to five different states: Alabama, the Carolinas, Georgia, Mississippi, and Virginia. These states primarily supported segregation. Their transportation was mainly going to be from Greyhound and Trail way busses and that should take them to New Orleans. Before - The reason why the freedom riders began their journey was because of how the southern states were treating most ethnic groups of people and how treated ethnic groups. Another reason for this action was to fight local laws and customs that enforced segregation. Violence - One major incident on May, 14 1961, Valentines Day, a group of KKK members met the group in Anniston where they proceeded in slashing the tires which force the bus to stop several miles out of town. After it stopped, the Klan began to firebomb the bus and held the doors closed intending to burn the riders alive. Eventually, the riders escaped and were violently beaten outside the bus for some time. What - As the riders began their trip, starting in Washington, everything was going well for the most part. Once they arrived in places such as Birmingham, Montgomery, and Anniston where they were not wanted, mobs of people fought with the freedom riders and beat them, some even doing damage to their buses. When & Where - The Freedom Riders began on May 4, 1961 where they started their journey in Washington DC. In the beginning they were supposed to take the bus all the way to New Orleans, but had to stop because of their planned deadline to arrive there in May 17. Along the way many incidents occurred such as on May 14, a brutal attack by the KKK occurred, on May 19 they were

prevented from continuing because bus drivers were in fear of taking them anywhere but finally on the 20th they were able to board a bus and continue on the road. On May 22, President Kennedy arranged agreements with the states of Alabama, and Mississippi to protect the riders, but they were still getting arrested for reasons that abused the law. And finally, on May 24, they arrived in Mississippi where they were immediately arrested and jailed. After - After the first freedom ride, many more ensued. Almost all of these rides traveled through the south and many riders were jailed once they reached Jackson at which point their strategy was to fill up the jails in the areas. Influence - The Freedom Riders were brave in what they did, and after they were arrested they influenced many people in direct action for civil rights across the United States. Along with this, they impressed black citizens in rural areas who later on were the backbone of the civil rights movement. Images - https://www.thenewsignificance.com/wpcontent/uploads/2011/05/Freedom-Rides-Map.jpg

Sources - http://www.core-online.org/History/freedom%20rides.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5149667 http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis61.htm#1961frides

In contemporary political thought, the term civil rights is indissolubly linked to the struggle for equality of American blacks during the 1950s and 60s. The aim of that struggle was to secure the status of equal citizenship in a liberal democratic state. Civil rights are the basic legal rights a person must possess in order to have such a status. They are the rights that constitute free and equal citizenship and include personal, political, and economic rights. No contemporary thinker of significance holds that such rights can be legitimately denied to a person on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, or disability. Antidiscrimination

principles are thus a common ground in contemporary political discussion. However, there is much disagreement in the scholarly literature over the basis and scope of these principles and the ways in which they ought to be implemented in law and policy. In addition, debate exists over the legitimacy of including sexual orientation among the other categories traditionally protected by civil rights law, and there is an emerging literature examining issues of how best to understand discrimination based on disability. The treatment of blacks under slavery and Jim Crow presents a history of injustice and cultural annihilation that is similar in some respects to the treatment of Native Americans. However, civil rights principles played a very different role in the struggle of Native Americans against the injustices perpetrated against them by whites. Civil rights principles demand inclusion of the individuals from a disadvantaged group in the major institutions of society on an equal basis with the individuals who are already treated as full citizens. The principles do not require that the disadvantaged group be given a right to govern its own affairs. A right of political self-determination, in contrast, demands that a group have the freedom to order its affairs at it sees fit and, to that extent, political self-determination has a separatist aspect, even if something less than complete sovereignty is involved. The pursuit of civil rights by American blacks overshadowed the pursuit of political self-determination. The fact that American blacks lacked any territory of their own on which they could rule themselves favored the civil rights strategy. Moreover, the civil war amendments, and the civil rights laws that accompanied them, were meant to incorporate black Americans into the body politic as free and equal citizens. Although this effort was defeated by Jim Crow, the principle of citizenship for blacks had been enshrined in law. And so, in their struggle to defeat Jim Crow, blacks could and did repeatedly demand that white Americans live up to their constitutional promise of equality. Legal Cases and Statutes Americans With Disabilities Act. 42 U.S.C. 12101-12213 (1999). Bowers v. Hardwick 478 U.S. 186 (1986). Boy Scouts v. Dale, No. 99-699 (2000). Civil Rights Act of 1866. 42 U.S.C 1981 (1999). Civil Rights Act of 1964. 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq. Defense of Marriage Act 28 U.S.C. 1738c (1999). Ex Parte Crow Dog 109 U.S. 556 (1883). Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968. 28 U.S.C. 1301-1303. Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Citizen Band, Potawatomi Indian Tribe 498 U.S.

505 (1991). Pregnancy Discrimination Act 42 U.S.C. 2000 (e)(k). Romer v. Evans 517 U.S. 620 (1996). Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez 436 U.S. 49 (1978). Thomasson v. Perry 80 F.3d 915 (4th Cir. 1996)