Anniston and Birmingham bus attacks: Difference between revisions
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The '''Anniston and Birmingham bus attacks''', which occurred on 14 May 1961 in [[Anniston, Alabama|Anniston]] and [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]], [[Alabama]], were acts of [[Riot|mob violence]] targeted against [[Civil rights movement|civil rights activists]] protesting against [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]] in the [[Southern United States|Southern]] [[United States]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-04-17 |title=Get On the Bus: The Freedom Riders of 1961 : NPR |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080417221849/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5149667 | |
The '''Anniston and Birmingham bus attacks''', which occurred on 14 May 1961 in [[Anniston, Alabama|Anniston]] and [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]], [[Alabama]], were acts of [[Riot|mob violence]] targeted against [[Civil rights movement|civil rights activists]] protesting against [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]] in the [[Southern United States|Southern]] [[United States]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-04-17 |title=Get On the Bus: The Freedom Riders of 1961 : NPR |website=[[NPR]] |url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5149667 |access-date=2023-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080417221849/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5149667 |archive-date=2008-04-17 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-07-10 |title=The Freedom Rides |url=http://www.core-online.org/History/freedom%20rides.htm |access-date=2023-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130710005438/http://www.core-online.org/History/freedom%20rides.htm |archive-date=2013-07-10 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-12-24 |title=WGBH American Experience . Freedom Riders . Watch {{!}} PBS |website=[[PBS]] |url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/watch |access-date=2023-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111224181750/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/watch |archive-date=2011-12-24 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Meet the Players: Freedom Riders {{!}} American Experience {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/meet-players-freedom-riders/ |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=www.pbs.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Mike |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5k6iDwAAQBAJ |title=Set The Night On Fire: L.A. In The Sixties |last2=Wiener |first2=Jon |publisher=[[Verso]] |year=2020 |isbn=9781839761225 |pages=53–56 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Branch |first=Taylor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3gQN-jK8JI0C |title=Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 |date=2007 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2007 |isbn=9781416558682 |pages=412–450 |ref={{sfnRef|Branch}} |author-link=Taylor Branch}}</ref><ref>[http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Society/freedom_rides/freedom_ride_jpegs/14_slide0001_image029.jpg Photo of a Greyhound bus firebombed by a mob in Anniston, Alabama] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070615163744/http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Society/freedom_rides/freedom_ride_jpegs/14_slide0001_image029.jpg|date=June 15, 2007}}. Retrieved February 1, 2010.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lipinski |first=Jed |title=On his last day at Xavier, Norman Francis is remembered for providing refuge to Freedom Riders |url=https://www.nola.com/news/education/article_373b537b-cac7-5094-b6b4-0caf77694840.html |access-date=2021-01-24 |website=NOLA.com |language=en}}</ref> |
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Although the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] had ruled that segregation on interstate public transport was [[Constitution of the United States|unconstitutional]], southern [[Jim Crow laws|Jim Crow]] states had continued to enforce it. In order to challenge this noncompliance, the [[Congress of Racial Equality]] (CORE) organised for interracial groups of volunteers – whom they dubbed "[[Freedom Riders]]" – to travel through the [[Deep South]] on interstate buses. As this was expected to provoke violent reactions from segregationists, CORE hoped that the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] would be forced to step in. On 4 May 1961 the first thirteen Freedom Riders, among them future [[United States House of Representatives|US House Representative]] [[John Lewis]], boarded two buses – one operated by [[Greyhound Lines|Greyhound]] and the other by [[Trailways Transportation System|Trailways]] – departing from [[Washington, D.C.]] for [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]]. Their route would take them through the segregationist stronghold of Alabama, where Birmingham Police Commissioner [[Bull Connor|Eugene "Bull" Connor]] conspired with local chapters of the Klan to attack the Riders. |
Although the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] had ruled that segregation on interstate public transport was [[Constitution of the United States|unconstitutional]], southern [[Jim Crow laws|Jim Crow]] states had continued to enforce it. In order to challenge this noncompliance, the [[Congress of Racial Equality]] (CORE) organised for interracial groups of volunteers – whom they dubbed "[[Freedom Riders]]" – to travel through the [[Deep South]] on interstate buses. As this was expected to provoke violent reactions from segregationists, CORE hoped that the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] would be forced to step in. On 4 May 1961 the first thirteen Freedom Riders, among them future [[United States House of Representatives|US House Representative]] [[John Lewis]], boarded two buses – one operated by [[Greyhound Lines|Greyhound]] and the other by [[Trailways Transportation System|Trailways]] – departing from [[Washington, D.C.]] for [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]]. Their route would take them through the segregationist stronghold of Alabama, where Birmingham Police Commissioner [[Bull Connor|Eugene "Bull" Connor]] conspired with local chapters of the Klan to attack the Riders. |
Revision as of 18:42, 1 April 2023
Anniston and Birmingham bus attacks | |
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Part of the Civil Rights movement | |
![]() Freedom Rider Mae Frances Moultrie stands in front of a burning Greyhound bus after it was torched outside of Anniston | |
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Location | Anniston, Alabama |
Coordinates | 33°39′29″N 85°49′52″W / 33.658124°N 85.83114°W |
Date | May 14, 1961; 63 years ago ~1:00 p.m. (UTC-5) |
Target | Freedom Riders |
Attack type | Firebombing Mob violence Attempted lynching |
Injured | ~13 |
Victims | Freedom Riders: Joe Perkins Genevieve Hughes Albert Bigelow Hank Thomas Jimmy McDonald Mae Frances Moultrie Ed Blankenheim Journalists: Charlotte Devree Moses Newson |
Perpetrators | Mob led by Anniston Ku Klux Klan leader William Chappell |
No. of participants | ~50 |
Defenders | Alabama Highway Patrol agents Ell Cowling and Harry Sims |
Motive | Racism and support for racial segregation |
The Anniston and Birmingham bus attacks, which occurred on 14 May 1961 in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama, were acts of mob violence targeted against civil rights activists protesting against racial segregation in the Southern United States.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Although the United States Supreme Court had ruled that segregation on interstate public transport was unconstitutional, southern Jim Crow states had continued to enforce it. In order to challenge this noncompliance, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organised for interracial groups of volunteers – whom they dubbed "Freedom Riders" – to travel through the Deep South on interstate buses. As this was expected to provoke violent reactions from segregationists, CORE hoped that the federal government would be forced to step in. On 4 May 1961 the first thirteen Freedom Riders, among them future US House Representative John Lewis, boarded two buses – one operated by Greyhound and the other by Trailways – departing from Washington, D.C. for New Orleans, Louisiana. Their route would take them through the segregationist stronghold of Alabama, where Birmingham Police Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor conspired with local chapters of the Klan to attack the Riders.
On 14 May, when the Greyhound bus stopped in Anniston shortly after 1 p.m., it was swarmed by a mob. With the police turning a blind eye, the bus was firebombed, forcing the passengers out and exposing them to physical assaults. Two armed Alabama Highway Patrol agents (who had travelled on the bus posing as regular passengers) prevented the Freedom Riders from being lynched. The attackers eventually dispersed, leaving the Riders to seek medical attention.
The Trailways bus reached Anniston approximately one hour after the Greyhound bus. Several Klansmen (who had boarded earlier in Atlanta, Georgia) assaulted the Riders and forced the black passengers to move to the back of the bus. The bus then continued to Birmingham, where a mob of additional Klan members, armed with blunt weapons, attacked the Freedom Riders in a fifteen minute frenzy of violence, during which the police deliberately vacated the area. Although there were no fatalities, several of the Riders – as well as a number of news reporters, multiple black bystanders, and a Klansman who was accidentally beaten by his own accomplices – required hospital treatment.
The attacks caused shock throughout the country and brought the issue of segregation under an international spotlight, embarrassing the United States during the height of the Cold War. Although most of the Freedom Riders opted to continue to New Orleans via plane, Lewis and Hank Thomas stayed in Birmingham in order to organize a new Freedom Ride with fresh recruits. Connors and the Klan had intended to deter future Freedom Rides, but the attacks had the opposite effect and inspired hundreds of volunteers to spend the summer of 1961 travelling across the South facing arrest and mob violence. This put immense pressure on President John Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy to act and in late September the Interstate Commerce Commission issued rules which effectively ended segregation on interstate vehicles and in transport terminals. Due to their eventual success, the original Freedom Rides and the attacks on them are now considered key events of the civil rights movement.
Anniston attack
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/16/Bus_mural_at_Freedom_Riders_National_Monument.jpg/220px-Bus_mural_at_Freedom_Riders_National_Monument.jpg)
On Sunday, May 14, Mother's Day, in Anniston, Alabama, a mob of Klansmen, some still in church attire, attacked the Greyhound bus. The driver tried to leave the station, but he was blocked until Ku Klux Klan members slashed its tires.[9] The mob forced the crippled bus to stop several miles outside town and then threw a firebomb into it.[10][11] As the bus burned, the mob held the doors shut, intending to burn the riders to death. Sources disagree, but either an exploding fuel tank[10] or an undercover state investigator who was brandishing a revolver caused the mob to retreat, and the riders escaped the bus.[12] The mob beat the riders after they got out. Warning shots which were fired into the air by highway patrolmen were the only thing which prevented the riders from being lynched.[10] The roadside site in Anniston and the downtown Greyhound station were preserved as part of the Freedom Riders National Monument in 2017.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Freedom_Riders_state_historic_marker%2C_field_of_bus_burning_in_distance_behind.jpg/220px-Freedom_Riders_state_historic_marker%2C_field_of_bus_burning_in_distance_behind.jpg)
Some injured riders were taken to Anniston Memorial Hospital.[13] That night, the hospitalized Freedom Riders, most of whom had been refused care, were removed from the hospital at 2 AM, because the staff feared the mob outside the hospital. The local civil rights leader Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth organized several cars of black citizens to rescue the injured Freedom Riders in defiance of the white supremacists. The black people were under the leadership of Colonel Stone Johnson and were openly armed as they arrived at the hospital, protecting the Freedom Riders from the mob.[14][10]
When the Trailways bus reached Anniston and pulled in at the terminal an hour after the Greyhound bus was burned, it was boarded by eight Klansmen. They beat the Freedom Riders and left them semi-conscious in the back of the bus.[citation needed]
Birmingham attack
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/249_The_Other_Bus.jpg/220px-249_The_Other_Bus.jpg)
On 14 May 1961, during the American Civil Rights Movement, a mob of Ku Klux Klan members attacked civil rights Freedom Riders in Birmingham, Alabama after two buses were setting out to travel the south in protest of their civil rights following the Supreme Court case saying bus segregation was unconstitutional.
When the bus arrived in Birmingham, Alabama, it was attacked by a mob of Ku Klux Klan members aided and abetted by police under the orders of Commissioner Bull Connor. As the riders exited the bus, they were beaten by the mob with baseball bats, iron pipes and bicycle chains. Among the attacking Klansmen was Gary Thomas Rowe, an FBI informant. White Freedom Riders were singled out for especially frenzied beatings; James Peck required more than 50 stitches to the wounds in his head. Peck was taken to Carraway Methodist Medical Center, which refused to treat him; he was later treated at Jefferson Hillman Hospital.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Freedom_Riders_attacked.jpg/220px-Freedom_Riders_attacked.jpg)
When reports of the bus burning and beatings reached US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, he urged restraint on the part of Freedom Riders and sent an assistant, John Seigenthaler, to Alabama to try to calm the situation.[citation needed]
Despite the violence suffered and the threat of more to come, the Freedom Riders intended to continue their journey. Kennedy had arranged an escort for the Riders in order to get them to Montgomery, Alabama, safely. However, radio reports told of a mob awaiting the riders at the bus terminal, as well as on the route to Montgomery. The Greyhound clerks told the Riders that their drivers were refusing to drive any Freedom Riders anywhere.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/State_historic_marker_detailing_story_of_Freedom_Riders_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-State_historic_marker_detailing_story_of_Freedom_Riders_%28cropped%29.jpg)
References
- ^ "Get On the Bus: The Freedom Riders of 1961 : NPR". NPR. 2008-04-17. Archived from the original on 2008-04-17. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
- ^ "The Freedom Rides". 2013-07-10. Archived from the original on 2013-07-10. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
- ^ "WGBH American Experience . Freedom Riders . Watch | PBS". PBS. 2011-12-24. Archived from the original on 2011-12-24. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
- ^ "Meet the Players: Freedom Riders | American Experience | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
- ^ Davis, Mike; Wiener, Jon (2020). Set The Night On Fire: L.A. In The Sixties. Verso. pp. 53–56. ISBN 9781839761225.
- ^ Branch, Taylor (2007). Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63. Simon and Schuster. pp. 412–450. ISBN 9781416558682.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Photo of a Greyhound bus firebombed by a mob in Anniston, Alabama Archived June 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
- ^ Lipinski, Jed. "On his last day at Xavier, Norman Francis is remembered for providing refuge to Freedom Riders". NOLA.com. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
- ^ ""Freedom Riders," WGBH American Experience". PBS. Archived from the original on December 24, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
- ^ a b c d "Get On the Bus: The Freedom Riders of 1961". NPR.org. NPR. Archived from the original on April 17, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2008.
- ^ Photo of a Greyhound bus firebombed by a mob in Anniston, Alabama Archived June 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
- ^ Branch, pp. 412–450.
- ^ "Anniston Memorial Hospital Marker - Historic Markers Across Alabama". www.lat34north.com. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
- ^ . "With the police holding back the jeering crowd, and with the deacons openly displaying their weapons, the weary but relieved Riders piled into the cars, which promptly drove off into the gathering dusk. 'We walked right between those Ku Klux,' Buck Johnson later recalled. 'Some of them had clubs. There were some deputies too. You couldn't tell the deputies from the Ku Klux."Get On the Bus: The Freedom Riders of 1961". NPR.org. NPR. Archived from the original on April 17, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2008.
- Freedom Riders
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