Freedom Rides Museum - Montgomery, Alabama
Posted by: 
xptwo
N 32° 22.483 W 086° 18.541
16S E 565000 N 3582181
The Freedeom Rides Museum is located in the old Greyhound Bus Station where the 1961 attack on the Freedom Riders took place.
Waymark Code: WMD94D
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 12/07/2011
Views: 5
Today the old Greyhound Bus Terminal houses the Freedom Rides Museum, but on May 20, 1961 it was the scene of an early civil rights mob attack. Fifty years later, on the anniversary of the confrontation, the Freedom Rides Museum opened its doors with its first art exhibit "Road to Equality."
From the museum web page (
visit link)
“If not us, then who? If not now, then when? ...Will someone else's children have to risk their lives instead of us risking ours?” Freedom Rider John Lewis, May 1961
Learn how 21 young people helped change our nation’s history using nonviolent protest. Black and white, male and female, none of them were older than 22. They stepped off of a bus at this station on May 20, 1961. They knew they might be met with violence, and they were. They had written out wills and said goodbye to loved ones. Their goal was to help end racial segregation in public transportation and they did. This new museum explores a compelling American story. It uses artworks as well as quotes, photographs and architectural elements.
The historical marker in front of the museum also tells us the story. The text reads:
"On May 20, 1961, a group of black and white SNCC members led by John Lewis left Birmingham for Montgomery on a Greyhound bus. They were determined to continue the "Freedom Ride" from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans that had met with violence in Birmingham. Their purpose was to test a court case, "Boynton vs. Virginia," declaring segregation in bus terminals unconstitutional. Upon arriving in Montgomery, their police escort disappeared, and an angry mob of over 200 Klan supporters attacked and injured them at the Greyhound terminal. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy was so enraged that he sent in 450 U. S. Marshals and thus became active in the movement."