Greyhound Bus Station (Montgomery, Alabama)
Encyclopedia
The Greyhound Bus Station at 210 South Court Street in Montgomery, Alabama
, was the site of a violent attack on participants in the 1961 Freedom Ride
during the Civil Rights Movement. The May 1961 assaults, carried out by a mob of white protesters who confronted the civil rights activists, "shocked the nation and led the Kennedy Administration
to side with civil rights protesters for the first time."
The property is no longer used as a bus station, but the building was saved from demolition and its facade has been restored. The site was leased by the Alabama Historical Commission
and a historical marker was located in front of the building. In 2011, a museum was opened inside the building, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
on May 4, 1961, and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17. The black and white Freedom Riders were trying to compel the U.S. government to enforce U.S. Supreme Court decisions outlawing segregate
d transportation, and wanted to end the discriminatory practice of allocating seating on the buses and bus stations with a preference for whites. Organized by the Congress of Racial Equality
(CORE), the plan was to have mixed pairs of riders sit side by side. The first ride consisted of two buses, one from Greyhound
and one from Trailways
, and the plans included a final leg starting in Atlanta, Georgia
, and stopping in the state of Alabama in Anniston
, Birmingham
, and Montgomery before ending in New Orleans.
members who beat up the Freedom Riders. It was also attacked in Birmingham, and several riders (including James Peck
) were beaten in front of the press. Reports of the violence reached US Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who urged restraint on the part of Freedom Riders and sent an assistant, John Seigenthaler
, to Birmingham. CORE agreed to halt the Freedom Ride in Birmingham on May 14, with the remaining riders flying to New Orleans.
, of the Nashville Student Movement
(and a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
) and others were undeterred, and 21 young students, including John Lewis, took the place of the original riders for a leg of the Freedom Ride to Montgomery
(the ultimate destination was Jackson, Mississippi
). All but one (Ruby Doris Smith
, from Atlanta) were from Nashville, Tennessee
, and many from Fisk University
. Greyhound had initially refused to allow any of their drivers to drive the bus; after an angry intervention by Robert Kennedy, and with an escort of state troopers provided by Floyd Mann
, the Alabama Director of Public Safety, the bus left Birmingham for Montgomery on 20 May.
city limits, arrived at the bus station at 10:23 AM and were met by a crowd of violent white protesters, including women and children. Several were injured in the racist attack, including Robert Kennedy's assistant John Seigenthaler, who had followed the bus in his car: attempting to rescue two white female riders, he was hit over the head with a metal pipe and "lay unconscious on the ground for half an hour." Floyd Mann, a "committed segregationist, tough on law and order," stepped in to protect William Barbee, who was to remain paralyzed and died an early death as a result of his beating. Floyd fired his gun in the air, yelling, "'There'll be no killing here today.' A white attacker raised his bat for a final blow. Mann put his gun to the man's head. 'One more swing,' he said, 'and you're dead.'"
On Sunday, May 21, Martin Luther King, Jr.
, C.K. Steele
, and SCLC
officers came to support the Freedom Riders. That evening, they and the riders joined the evening service in Ralph Abernathy
's First Baptist Church
on North Ripley Street while some 3000 angry protesters yelled outside, burning a car and threatening to burn the church. From inside the church, King telephoned Robert Kennedy, who urged the activists to "cool down," a proposal refused first by Diane Nash, and then by James Farmer
(on behalf of CORE) and King. Kennedy had sent 500 U.S. Marshals
, headed by United States Deputy Attorney General
Byron White
. Airborne troops were on standby at Fort Benning
, just across the Georgia state line. The Kennedy Administration's decision that it would send US troops to restore order was protested by city and state officials. The marshals, with the help of Floyd Mann and his state troopers, managed to keep the mob at bay; it was finally dispersed with the help of the National Guard at midnight.
The Freedom Ride again went on the road, and travelled to Jackson, Mississippi
, where the students, which by now included Nashville Student Movement activists Bernard Lafayette
, James Bevel
, and others, were arrested as they attempted to segregate the "Black" and "White" waiting rooms in the bus terminal.
As a result of the unrest and the nationwide publicity generated by the Freedom Rides, in late May Robert Kennedy was able to successfully petition the Interstate Commerce Commission
to adopt stronger regulations and desegregate interstate transportation.
on May 16, 2011.
The Freedom Rides Museum focuses on the history of the protest and riot, and is open on Fridays and Saturdays.
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
, was the site of a violent attack on participants in the 1961 Freedom Ride
Freedom ride
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States to test the United States Supreme Court decisions Boynton v. Virginia and Morgan v. Virginia...
during the Civil Rights Movement. The May 1961 assaults, carried out by a mob of white protesters who confronted the civil rights activists, "shocked the nation and led the Kennedy Administration
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
to side with civil rights protesters for the first time."
The property is no longer used as a bus station, but the building was saved from demolition and its facade has been restored. The site was leased by the Alabama Historical Commission
Alabama Historical Commission
The Alabama Historical Commission is the historic preservation agency for the U. S. state of Alabama. The agency was created by an act of the state legislature in 1966 with a mission of safeguarding Alabama’s historic buildings and sites. It consists of twenty members appointed by the state...
and a historical marker was located in front of the building. In 2011, a museum was opened inside the building, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Freedom Ride to Montgomery
The first Freedom Ride left Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
on May 4, 1961, and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17. The black and white Freedom Riders were trying to compel the U.S. government to enforce U.S. Supreme Court decisions outlawing segregate
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
d transportation, and wanted to end the discriminatory practice of allocating seating on the buses and bus stations with a preference for whites. Organized by the Congress of Racial Equality
Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE was a U.S. civil rights organization that originally played a pivotal role for African-Americans in the Civil Rights Movement...
(CORE), the plan was to have mixed pairs of riders sit side by side. The first ride consisted of two buses, one from Greyhound
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and...
and one from Trailways
Trailways Transportation System
The Trailways Transportation System is an American group of 80 independent bus companies that have entered into a franchising agreement. The company is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia.- History :...
, and the plans included a final leg starting in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, and stopping in the state of Alabama in Anniston
Anniston, Alabama
Anniston is a city in Calhoun County in the state of Alabama, United States.As of the 2000 census, the population of the city is 24,276. According to the 2005 U.S. Census estimates, the city had a population of 23,741...
, Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, and Montgomery before ending in New Orleans.
Violence in Anniston, Birmingham
In Anniston, a mob of angry whites violently attached the Greyhound bus and set it on fire; the riders were severely beaten. The Trailways bus arrived an hour later and was boarded in Anniston by Ku Klux KlanKu Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
members who beat up the Freedom Riders. It was also attacked in Birmingham, and several riders (including James Peck
James Peck (pacifist)
James Peck was an American activist who practiced nonviolent resistance during World War II and in the Civil Rights movement...
) were beaten in front of the press. Reports of the violence reached US Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who urged restraint on the part of Freedom Riders and sent an assistant, John Seigenthaler
John Seigenthaler
John Lawrence Seigenthaler is an American journalist, writer, and political figure. He is known as a prominent defender of First Amendment rights....
, to Birmingham. CORE agreed to halt the Freedom Ride in Birmingham on May 14, with the remaining riders flying to New Orleans.
The Nashville Student Movement continues the Ride
Diane NashDiane Nash
Diane Judith Nash was a leader and strategist of the student wing of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. A historian described her as: "…bright, focused, utterly fearless, with an unerring instinct for the correct tactical move at each increment of the crisis; as a leader, her instincts had been...
, of the Nashville Student Movement
Nashville sit-ins
The Nashville sit-ins, which lasted from February 13 to May 10, 1960, were part of a nonviolent direct action campaign to end racial segregation at lunch counters in downtown Nashville, Tennessee...
(and a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ' was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960...
) and others were undeterred, and 21 young students, including John Lewis, took the place of the original riders for a leg of the Freedom Ride to Montgomery
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
(the ultimate destination was Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
). All but one (Ruby Doris Smith
Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson
Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from its earliest days in 1960 until her death in October 1967. She served the organization as an activist in the field and as an administrator in the Atlanta central office. She eventually succeeded James Forman...
, from Atlanta) were from Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, and many from Fisk University
Fisk University
Fisk University is an historically black university founded in 1866 in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. The world-famous Fisk Jubilee Singers started as a group of students who performed to earn enough money to save the school at a critical time of financial shortages. They toured to raise funds to...
. Greyhound had initially refused to allow any of their drivers to drive the bus; after an angry intervention by Robert Kennedy, and with an escort of state troopers provided by Floyd Mann
Floyd Mann
Floyd Mann was born August. 20, 1920, in Davidson, Tallapoosa County, Alabama. He was schooled in Davidson and Alexander City, Alabama. He joined the United States Army Air Corps, serving as a tail gunner on a B-17, where he flew 27 combat missions including the first daylight raid on Berlin. He...
, the Alabama Director of Public Safety, the bus left Birmingham for Montgomery on 20 May.
Violence in Montgomery and federal involvement
The riders, who had been left unescorted by the highway police as they reached MontgomeryMontgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
city limits, arrived at the bus station at 10:23 AM and were met by a crowd of violent white protesters, including women and children. Several were injured in the racist attack, including Robert Kennedy's assistant John Seigenthaler, who had followed the bus in his car: attempting to rescue two white female riders, he was hit over the head with a metal pipe and "lay unconscious on the ground for half an hour." Floyd Mann, a "committed segregationist, tough on law and order," stepped in to protect William Barbee, who was to remain paralyzed and died an early death as a result of his beating. Floyd fired his gun in the air, yelling, "'There'll be no killing here today.' A white attacker raised his bat for a final blow. Mann put his gun to the man's head. 'One more swing,' he said, 'and you're dead.'"
On Sunday, May 21, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
, C.K. Steele
Charles Kenzie Steele
Rev. Charles Kenzie Steele was a preacher and a civil rights activist. He was one of the main organizers of the Tallahassee bus boycott, and a prominent member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.-Biography:Steele was the son of a coal miner, and at a young age he knew that he wanted...
, and SCLC
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an African-American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...
officers came to support the Freedom Riders. That evening, they and the riders joined the evening service in Ralph Abernathy
Ralph Abernathy
Ralph David Abernathy, Sr. was a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement, a minister, and a close associate of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Following King's assassination, Dr. Abernathy took up the leadership of the SCLC Poor People's Campaign and...
's First Baptist Church
First Baptist Church (Montgomery, Alabama)
The First Baptist Church on North Ripley Street in Montgomery, Alabama is a historic landmark. Founded in downtown Montgomery in 1867 as one of the first black churches in the area, it provided an alternative to the second-class treatment and discrimination African-Americans faced at the other...
on North Ripley Street while some 3000 angry protesters yelled outside, burning a car and threatening to burn the church. From inside the church, King telephoned Robert Kennedy, who urged the activists to "cool down," a proposal refused first by Diane Nash, and then by James Farmer
James L. Farmer, Jr.
James Leonard Farmer, Jr. was a civil rights activist and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement. He was the initiator and organizer of the 1961 Freedom Ride, which eventually led to the desegregation of inter-state transportation in the United States.In 1942, Farmer co-founded the Committee...
(on behalf of CORE) and King. Kennedy had sent 500 U.S. Marshals
United States Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...
, headed by United States Deputy Attorney General
United States Deputy Attorney General
United States Deputy Attorney General is the second-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. In the United States federal government, the Deputy Attorney General oversees the day-to-day operation of the Department of Justice, and may act as Attorney General during the...
Byron White
Byron White
Byron Raymond "Whizzer" White won fame both as a football halfback and as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Appointed to the court by President John F. Kennedy in 1962, he served until his retirement in 1993...
. Airborne troops were on standby at Fort Benning
Fort Benning
Fort Benning is a United States Army post located southeast of the city of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama...
, just across the Georgia state line. The Kennedy Administration's decision that it would send US troops to restore order was protested by city and state officials. The marshals, with the help of Floyd Mann and his state troopers, managed to keep the mob at bay; it was finally dispersed with the help of the National Guard at midnight.
The Freedom Ride again went on the road, and travelled to Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
, where the students, which by now included Nashville Student Movement activists Bernard Lafayette
Bernard Lafayette
Bernard Lafayette Jr. is a longtime civil rights activist and organizer, who was a leader in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement...
, James Bevel
James Bevel
James L. Bevel was an American minister and leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement who, as the Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference initiated, strategized, directed, and developed SCLC's three major successes of the era:...
, and others, were arrested as they attempted to segregate the "Black" and "White" waiting rooms in the bus terminal.
As a result of the unrest and the nationwide publicity generated by the Freedom Rides, in late May Robert Kennedy was able to successfully petition the Interstate Commerce Commission
Interstate Commerce Commission
The Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including...
to adopt stronger regulations and desegregate interstate transportation.
The Greyhound Bus Station in modern times
The Greyhound station was closed in 1995, and its history is indicated by a historic marker placed there in 1996. The building fell into disrepair, and plans to open a museum were delayed repeatedly, leading to accusations of racial prejudice against the Alabama Historical Commission. The internationally renowned architectural firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates produced a design plan for the building. The site was noted as one of Montgomery's tourist attractions though the building could not be entered. A series of fifteen panels added in 2008, across the front of the building, illustrates the events of May 1961.Freedom Rides Museum
In May 2011, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the riot at the bus station, a 3000 square feet (278.7 m²) museum was to be opened in the presence of Jim Zwerg. The building was also listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on May 16, 2011.
The Freedom Rides Museum focuses on the history of the protest and riot, and is open on Fridays and Saturdays.
External links
- Freedom Rides Museum - Alabama Historical CommissionAlabama Historical CommissionThe Alabama Historical Commission is the historic preservation agency for the U. S. state of Alabama. The agency was created by an act of the state legislature in 1966 with a mission of safeguarding Alabama’s historic buildings and sites. It consists of twenty members appointed by the state...