Journey of Reconciliation
Encyclopedia
The Journey of Reconciliation was a form of non-violent direct action to challenge segregation
laws on interstate buses in the Southern United States
.
The two-week journey by 16 men began on 9 April 1947. It was seen as inspiring the later Freedom Rides of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement
. James Peck
, one of the white participants, also took part in the Freedom Ride of May 1961.
Sixteen men from the Congress of Racial Equality
(CORE) took part, eight white and eight black, including the organisers George Houser
and Bayard Rustin
and the radical pacifist Igal Roodenko
. They planned to ride public transportation in Virginia
, North Carolina
, Tennessee
and Kentucky
, all with segregated systems. During the two-week trip, blacks sat in front, whites in back and sometimes side-by-side, all in violation of current state laws, which required passengers to practice segregated seating in buses.
They were supported by the recent 1946 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia
, , which prohibited segregation in interstate travel as unconstitutional, by putting "an undue burden on commerce." The Southern states were refusing to enforce the Court's decision. Based on consultation, the protesters limited their direct action to the Upper South, where the risk of violence was not as high as in the Deep South
.
The riders suffered several arrests, notably in North Carolina. Judge Henry Whitfield expressed his distaste for the white men involved:
The NAACP and Thurgood Marshall
had reservations about the use of direct action, expecting to provoke much violence with little progress toward civil rights. The NAACP did offer a limited amount of legal help for those arrested. Bayard Rustin believed that the Journey of Reconciliation, as well as other actions challenging segregation in these years, contributed to the eventual ruling of the US Supreme Court in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education
. It ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional and ordered them ended.
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...
laws on interstate buses in the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
.
The two-week journey by 16 men began on 9 April 1947. It was seen as inspiring the later Freedom Rides of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
. 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...
, one of the white participants, also took part in the Freedom Ride of May 1961.
Sixteen men from 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) took part, eight white and eight black, including the organisers George Houser
George Houser
George M. Houser is a Methodist minister, civil rights activist, and activist for the independence of African nations. He served on the staff of the Fellowship of Reconciliation . With James Farmer, and Bernice Fisher, he co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality in 1942 in Chicago...
and Bayard Rustin
Bayard Rustin
Bayard Rustin was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, pacifism and non-violence, and gay rights.In the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation , Rustin practiced nonviolence...
and the radical pacifist Igal Roodenko
Igal Roodenko
- Biography :Roodenko graduated from Townsend Harris High School in Manhattan, New York. He attended Cornell University from 1934 to 1938, where he received a degree in horticulture. Roodenko was a gay man, and a printer by trade....
. They planned to ride public transportation in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
and Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, all with segregated systems. During the two-week trip, blacks sat in front, whites in back and sometimes side-by-side, all in violation of current state laws, which required passengers to practice segregated seating in buses.
They were supported by the recent 1946 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia
Irene Morgan
Irene Morgan , later known as Irene Morgan Kirkaldy, was an important predecessor to Rosa Parks in the successful fight to overturn segregation laws in the United States...
, , which prohibited segregation in interstate travel as unconstitutional, by putting "an undue burden on commerce." The Southern states were refusing to enforce the Court's decision. Based on consultation, the protesters limited their direct action to the Upper South, where the risk of violence was not as high as in the Deep South
Deep South
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
.
The riders suffered several arrests, notably in North Carolina. Judge Henry Whitfield expressed his distaste for the white men involved:
"It's about time you Jews from New York learned that you can't come down here bringing your niggers with you to upset the customs of the South. Just to teach you a lesson, I gave your black boys thirty days [on a chain gangChain gangA chain gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work, such as mining or timber collecting, as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include building roads, digging ditches or chipping stone...
], and I give you ninety."
The NAACP and Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...
had reservations about the use of direct action, expecting to provoke much violence with little progress toward civil rights. The NAACP did offer a limited amount of legal help for those arrested. Bayard Rustin believed that the Journey of Reconciliation, as well as other actions challenging segregation in these years, contributed to the eventual ruling of the US Supreme Court in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
. It ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional and ordered them ended.
See also
- Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach CompanySarah Keys v. Carolina Coach CompanySarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, 64 MCC 769 is a landmark civil rights case in the United States in which the Interstate Commerce Commission, in response to a bus segregation complaint filed in 1953 by a Women's Army Corps private named Sarah Louise Keys, broke with its historic adherence to...
(1953) - Boynton v. VirginiaBoynton v. VirginiaBoynton v. Virginia, 364 U.S. 454 was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. The case overturned a judgment convicting an African American law student for trespassing by being in a restaurant in a bus terminal which was "whites only." It held that racial segregation in public...
(1960) - Freedom Rides