#Freedom Riders

[whenweallvote]

#OnThisDay in 1961: Freedom Riders, including Stokely Carmichael, Gwendolyn Greene, and Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, were arrested and imprisoned in Mississippi.

Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who made bus trips throughout the American South protesting segregated terminals by using “whites-only” restrooms and lunch counters at bus stations. The group was often confronted by police officers, bystanders, and violent counter-protest mobs.

Today and always, we honor those who put themselves at risk in the fight for our freedoms.

[187days]

Day Seventy

Today was rainy, dark, and cold, and I tried to compensate by wearing the brightest dress I own (a raspberry pink t-shirt dress) with my usual winter uniform of leggings, boots, and a cardigan. A lot of students said they liked it, so yay for that.

Was I still cranky because of the weather? A bit.

I got even more cranky when the parent who'd requested to meet with her child's teachers this morning never showed up. But then I rallied because I had teaching to do.

In Global Studies, that meant helping students as needed with the research outlines they'd started working on yesterday. In APGOV, it meant picking up where Tom White left off: explaining the impact of WWII on Americans' views about race, what lessons the war taught people about how racist ideologies end (read: in genocide), why Truman desegregated the military, why some of the activists for the cause of civil rights were WWII veterans. Then we went forward in history, talked Brown v. Board and school desegregation as well as Boynton v. Virginia and the freedom rides. I showed an excerpt from PBS Freedom Riders, which got students really engaged because one of our beloved, longtime substitute teachers actually was a freedom rider, and he's spoken to the kids about that, so it's a part of history they've got a little connection to.

Track practice started with team pictures, which admittedly made me cranky again because it's always such a process to get the kids in their uniforms, lined up, and all of that. But we did it. And then I got to take the dashers and rookie wannabe dashers to practice starting blocks, which is one of my favorite things to do- probably because it involves a lot of teaching- and that was great. I had to very patiently teach one particular rookie who's nervous about falling. He's got heaps of potential as a dasher, so I made him give it a go after promising I wouldn't let him fall. And, of course, he was excellent. I can't wait to see him race for real.

I did annoy some of the senior boys because they were trying to give too much advice and I told them to stop; they meant well, of course, but the biggest trouble rookies have when taking block starts is overthinking, and it's easy to get overwhelmed with critiques on day one. I explained that to these boys, and they understood- even if they might not have fully agreed- so we're cool.

First meet's in a week and a half!

[whitesinhistory]

On May 20, 1961, Freedom Riders traveling by bus through the South to challenge segregation laws were brutally attacked by a white mob at the Greyhound Station in downtown Montgomery, Alabama.

Several days before, on May 16, the Riders faced mob violence in Birmingham so serious that it threatened to prematurely end their campaign. The Freedom Riders were initially organized by the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), but after the Birmingham attacks, an interracial group of 22 Tennessee college students, known as the Nashville Student Movement, volunteered to take over and continue the ride through Alabama and Mississippi to New Orleans.

These new Freedom Riders reached Birmingham on May 17 but were immediately arrested and returned to Tennessee by Birmingham police. Undeterred, the Riders and additional reinforcements from Tennessee returned to Birmingham on May 18. Under pressure from the federal government, Alabama Governor John Patterson agreed to authorize state and city police to protect the Riders during their journey from Birmingham to Montgomery.

At Montgomery city limits, state police abandoned the Riders' bus; the Riders continued to the bus station unescorted and found no police protection waiting when they arrived. Montgomery Public Safety Commissioner L.B. Sullivan had promised the Ku Klux Klan several minutes to attack the Riders without police interference, and, upon arrival, the Riders were met by a mob of several hundred angry white people armed with baseball bats, hammers, and pipes.

Montgomery police watched as the mob first attacked reporters and then turned on the Riders. Several were seriously injured, including a college student named Jim Zwerg and future U.S. Congressman John Lewis. John Seigenthaler, an aide to Attorney General Robert Kennedy, was knocked unconscious. Ignored by ambulances, two injured Riders were saved by good Samaritans who transported them to nearby hospitals.

[commiepinkofag]

EMORY IS EVERYWHERE

As the Palestine Solidarity movement rips across college campuses, college administrators and government bureaucrats are rushing to denounce anyone taking action as an "outside agitator". Those who grease the gears of the war machine think that this rhetoric will erode public support for bold actions at Emory. They are wrong.

45 years after the Camp David Accords - an infamously botched, imperialist plan for peace between Israel and Egypt with no input from Palestinians - was orchestrated by an Emory faculty alum President Carter, we observe that there is nowhere on Earth "outside" of Emory University. We want to say as clearly as possible - we welcome "outside agitators to our struggle against the ruthless genocide of Palestinians.

Emory University has the highest tuition, the lowest acceptance rate, and by far the highest endowment of any institution in Georgia. Economic barriers, infamously racist standardized testing, and nepotism have barred many from studying at Emory. To students in Atlanta and beyond - we invite you to struggle with us.

Local high school students dream of attending Emory, and many teachers encourage them to study hard and take up extracurriculars to increase their chance acceptance, knowing their chance of admission is slim. To local high school students and teachers, we invite you to struggle with us.

Just down the street from Emory Hospital Midtown is the site of the former Peachtree-Pine homeless shelter. In a bid to gentrify the city and evict its houseless population, the City closed the shelter and did not replace it, displacing hundreds and cutting off a last line of support for thousands of poor people in the city.

Emory University purchased this building, just one example of Emory's contribution to gentrification in Atlanta. To those without homes, or those displaced by gentrification, we invite you to struggle with us.

Emory's $11 billion endowment, the 11th highest in the country, is an outsized influence in Atlanta's economy. While economic inequality widens in the city, Emory remains a bastion of the rich. To the restaurant workers, house cleaners, gig workers, and all proletarians - we invite you to struggle with us.

In 2020, Emory University layed off or furloughed over 1500 employees. To those who are no longer affiliated with the university - we invite you to struggle with us.

4 out of 5 students at Emory are not from Georgia. While the Freedom Riders were heading down to Georgia in the 1960's to fight for Black people's right to vote, segregationist governors cast them as "outside agitators". To those from outside Atlanta and Georgia, we invite you to struggle with us.

1 in 5 students at Emory are from outside of the United States. The Palestinian students murdered by American weapons under Biden will never be one of those students. To those from outside of the country, we invite you to struggle with us.

In April 2023, Emory admin called the police to break up a protest led by students against Cop City on the quad. None of the pigs were Emory students. To all of those who struggle against police brutality, we invite you to struggle with us.

EMORY IS EVERYWHERE. THE PLACE FOR DIVISION IS NOWHERE. WE INVITE YOU TO STRUGGLE WITH US.

[ausetkmt]

On May 14, 1961, the Freedom Riders encountered hostile mobs upon their arrival in Alabama. The integrated Greyhound buses, carrying members of the Congress of Racial Equality from various racial backgrounds, had journeyed from Washington, D.C. with minimal disturbances.

However, as they entered Alabama on Mother's Day, the situation took a turn for the worse. The first bus faced a barrage of stones, while its tires were slashed, and a devastating firebomb engulfed the vehicle, leaving it destroyed.

These deeply unsettling incidents reflected the intense resistance and hostility towards the Freedom Riders' mission, highlighting the ongoing struggle for civil rights in Alabama during that period.

[faithandarisadventures]

Freedom Riders Historic Marker June 24, 2023 Birmingham, Alabama

[elijones94]

👊🏾✊🏾 “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.” ~ Congressman John Lewis (1940-2020) 🇺🇸

[idontknowknit]

John Lewis statue replaces Confederate monument in Atlanta | CNN

[wutbju]

Joseph Crespino in his history, In Search of Another Country, documents how white Protestant ministers in the South viewed those Northerner ministers who were trying to get Black folks registered to vote. We still repeat these same stories, yes?

A story--possibly apocryphal--recounted in the conservative Presbyterian Journal, which followed NCC activity in the state closely, captured the view of many conservative white Mississippians. A visiting ministerial "missionary" to Mississippi called up a local Presbyterian minister for a conference. The local minister begged off, weary of "the weekly necessity to hear a sermon on the subject of his ministerial failings by each newly arrived contingent of young clergymen." But he invited the visiting minister to come see him at the Vacation Bible school he was running. Vacation Bible school?-the visiting liberal minister had never heard of such a thing. Neither had he heard of Wednesday evening prayer meeting, which the visiting minister eagerly attended. Out of deference to his visitor, the local minister asked him to read the evening's scripture passage from Ephesians. He handed the man a Bible, and the congregation waited. The silence grew awkward as the visiting minister feebly thumbed the pages. Finally, he looked over to his host. "Where do you find Ephesians?" he asked.

[whenweallvote]

#OnThisDay in 1961: The original 13 Freedom Riders left Washington, D.C. for New Orleans on two Greyhound buses.

Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who made bus trips throughout the American South protesting segregated terminals by using “whites-only” restrooms and lunch counters at bus stations. The group was often confronted by police officers, bystanders, and violent counter-protest mobs.

In the fall of 1961, the Freedom Riders’ activism proved successful: the U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission banned segregation in interstate bus travel. 🙌🏿

[187days]

Day Sixty-Seven

Mr. B, Mr. I, and I met with The Principal, the Director of Student Services, and both Deans during PLC time this morning to discuss the way we currently track/level Global Studies and American Studies (I told the rest of the department they could join us, or do work on their own). Mr. B observed that students who aren't college-bound are being placed in college prep courses because there's no other option, and made the case that's not the best way to serve them or their college-bound peers. So we discussed possible changes we could make in the future, and obviously, that's going to take more than this one conversation, but I think we made a good start.

I spent my prep time checking over the essay outline assignment my Global Studies students had been doing; it's set up like a standard citation practice assignment (a set of questions to research, answer, and properly cite in MLA format), but this one had three, color-coded parts. Today, when my students came to class, I had them read the instructions and two examples of the Religion/Philosophy Essay, and some saw straight away how the work they'd done was going to set them up for essay drafting. The rest figured it out as we discussed the examples, and what was included in their introductions, bodies, and conclusions; I wrote discussion notes on the board in the same colors as the color-coding on the outline, and then it became totally clear.

For a lot of my students who're daunted by essay writing, realizing they'd already done the research and had it organized was a game-changer for their confidence. So I definitely think the way I sequenced these essay prep lessons- outline assignment, then instructions and examples, rather than the other way around (in which case a lot of students would have skipped the outlining, I think)- worked as intended. Feeling good about that!

APGOV was pretty excellent, too. We got into the Civil Rights Movement today by discussing Brown v. Board and subsequent school desegregation efforts, as well as the resistance to those efforts. A lot of my students knew about Ruby Bridges and the Little Rock Nine, a few knew about James Meredith, and it was good that they could bring their background knowledge into the conversation. After that, we tackled some things they new less about: the Federal Interstate Commerce Commission rule that interstate trains and buses- and station waiting rooms- had to be desegregated, Boynton v. Virginia, and the Freedom Rides. I showed an excerpt of PBS' Freedom Riders, which students found really engaging. It led into a great discussion.

And I had nothing to do at the end of the day, so I actually got to leave on time! Woohoo!

[whitesinhistory]

On May 9, 1961, 21-year-old John Lewis, a young Black civil rights activist, was severely beaten by a white mob at the Rock Hill, South Carolina, Greyhound bus terminal. A few days earlier, Mr. Lewis and 12 other Freedom Riders had left Washington, D.C., on a Greyhound bus headed to New Orleans. The Freedom Riders—seven of whom were Black and six of whom were white—sat interracially on the bus, planning to test a Supreme Court ruling that made segregation in interstate transportation illegal. 

[planetill]

Stokely Carmichael and the Origins of "Black Power"

By TJ Love Black Power. For Black folks, the meaning of the term is self evident. Black Power was here before any other rallying cry and it will always be the most relevant, impactful, unimpeachable, and sturdy ideal for us to strive for when all the catch phrases and hashtags in fade away. Continue reading Untitled

[yankeedoodleooh]

In Honor of Black History Month.

FREEDOM RIDER - By Traffic

This was one of my favorite songs when I was a teenager a long, long time ago. I didn’t really know what the song was about I just liked the sound and the way it made me feel.

Today I know exactly what this song is all about! 

Freedom Riders were groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in Freedom Rides, bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. Freedom Riders tried to use “whites-only” restrooms and lunch counters at bus stations in Alabama, South Carolina and other Southern states. The groups were confronted by arresting police officers—as well as horrific violence from white protestors—along their routes, but also drew international attention to the civil rights movement.

The first verse - Is about the spirit (which I believe to be God) He shakes you up to let you know that there’s something terribly wrong here, and hopefully you’ll come to the right conclusion.

The second verse - Is about how the spirit (which I believe to be God) compelled these brave souls to risk their safety and their lives by taking a stand against the many injustices and iniquities in the Southern United States.

The third verse - Time is running out! The spirit (which I believe to be God) will eventually strike down those who refuse to change their thinking. Those who cling to the bigoted belief that superiority over an entire race of people is more important than justice and equality. The spirit (which I believe to be God) will condemn these people.

It might be just a song, but remember what Paul wrote.

Ephesians 6:12  - For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

[filosofablogger]

Black History Month: John Lewis -- The Last Of The True Heroes

On the night of July 17, 2020, a breaking news flash crossed my screen that took my breath, caused me to utter aloud, “NO!”, and broke my heart.  Congressman John Lewis had died.  Even today, reading about him, thinking about all that he stood for and all that he accomplished can bring a tear to my eye.  Today’s post is a reprise of the one I wrote on that night and published the following…