Why did the Freedom Riders meet with such hostility and resistance in the Deep South? What contribution did the Freedom Rides make to the civil rights movement?
What will be an ideal response?
The ideal answer should include:
- Intent to provoke: James Farmer organized the Freedom Riders to induce a crisis similar in spirit to the sit-ins; Freedom Rides would provoke southern authorities into arresting the riders and prodding the Justice Department to enforce compliance of court orders banning segregation in interstate travel and terminal accommodations
- Opposition to the Freedom Rides: a mob in Anniston, Alabama, surrounded one bus, smashing its windows and slashing tires before tossing a firebomb into the bus; Freedom Riders were then beaten by this mob; violence escalated as the second bus was attacked in Birmingham, and police did nothing to stop the mob; mob violence also injured various Freedom Riders when a second Freedom Ride took place from Birmingham to Montgomery
- Worldwide publicity: mob violence and indifference of Alabama officials made the Freedom Ride front-page news throughout the world; Kennedy administration saw the Freedom Rides as a threat to the nation's global prestige
- Federal response: Justice Department and the FBI did not respond when CORE informed them of their plans; FBI agents did nothing but observe and take notes while the Riders were attacked in Birmingham; Justice Department flew the stranded Freedom Riders out of New Orleans; after the second Freedom Ride, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy sent 400 U.S. marshals to keep the peace at the Freedom Riders' support rally at the First Baptist Church in Montgomery: RFK called for a cooling-off period, but the Freedom Ride continued; RFK arranged a compromise that, in exchange for the Riders' safe passage through Mississippi, the federal government would not interfere with their arrests in Jackson; Justice Department petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to issue clear rules prohibiting segregation on interstate carriers
- Impact and contribution: exposed southern racism to the rest of the world; inspired grassroots activists around the South; reinforced white resistance to desegregation; showed the limits of federal action against Jim Crow; forced the Kennedy administration to act but also revealed the unwillingness of the federal government to fully enforce the law of the land; jailings and beatings made it clear to the civil rights community the limits of moral persuasion on effecting change
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