Violence against African-American churches goes back centuries
Rev. Bernard Lafayette with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, discusses his experience as a Freedom Rider
journolist reblogged
Today (May 9, 2013) is the 66th anniversary of the start of the first Freedom Ride.
It was called the Journey of Reconciliation, and white & black activists rode (otherwise) segregated buses through four southern states.
The interstate bus ride, lasted from April 9-23, and was designed to test the June 3, 1946 Supreme Court ruling that said Black passengers could not be forced to sit at the back of the bus. Bayard Rustin, a 101 Changemaker, participated in and helped to organize the ride. The riders were arrested several times.
Later rides and riders would be violently attacked by racist mobs.
Read more in: 101 Changemakers: Rebels and Radicals Who Changed US History.