Thirteen Members Of The Congress Of RacialEquality (CORE) Set Out On A Bus Ride From Washington, DC To New Orleans, On May 4, 1961.
The Civil Rights Activists Were Testing A 1960 Supreme Court Ruling That Expanded Antidiscrimination Laws Covering InterstateTravelTo Include Facilities Used By Travelers.
The Freedom Riders Enterted Segregated Terminals, Waiting Rooms, Rest Rooms And Resturants. They Were Harassed, Beaten And Arrested.
In Alabama, A White Mob Set Fire ToThe Lead Bus That The Freedom Riders Were Using. Twelve Activists Were Hospitalized. The Bus Was Destroyed.
By The Time They Were Arrested In Jackson, Mississippi, The Student Non-ViolentCoordinating Committe (SNCC), SouthernChristian Leadership Conference (SCLC) And Nashville Student Movement Had Recruited And Prepared Over 300 Freedom Riders To Fill The Mississippi Jails. The NAACP Assisted In The Effort By Providing Legal Defense For The Activists.
CORE Was Founded By A Group Of Interracial Students, On The Campus Of The University Of Chicago, In 1942. The Group's Aim Was To Use Nonviolent/Ghandian Tactics To Fight Segregation.
Founding
Members Included James L. Farmer, Jr., George Houser And Bernice
Fisher. Bayard Rustin, Roy Innis And Murdered Civil Rights Activists,
James Chaney, Andrew Goodman And Michael Schwerner Are Among The More
Famous Names Affiliated With CORE Over The Years.
"In Order For Black History To Live, We Must Continue To Breathe Life Into It." -- Hubert Gaddy, Jr.