Primary Sources: Civil Rights in America - Events: Freedom Riders (1961)

"50 years ago, young civil rights activists boarded buses and trains to beat Jim Crow"

"U.S. Rep. John Lewis recalls losing state protection when the Freedom Riders entered Montgomery, Ala., and the mob's decision to also attack the press."

"The Freedom Riders Interview Collection contains raw interviews with 46 people conducted for the American Experience documentary of the same name. The film documents the six-month period from May to November 1961, when white and black activists rode together on buses across the American South to protest the continued segregation of public buses and transportation facilities. "

"Listen to Bernard Lafayette Junior, an eyewitness to how Martin Luther King managed to prevent inter-ethnic bloodshed on a night of extreme tension during the battle against segregation in the American South."

"Jerome Smith recalls the childhood event that later led him to join the civil rights movement"

"Freedom Rider Ernest "Rip" Patton Jr. shares how the prison guards tried to make his time unbearable at Parchman Prison in Mississippi. Plus, how he and other Freedom Riders retaliated with song.

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/own-oprahshow/freedom-riders-jail-songs-in-parchman-prison-video#ixzz4x6se1uve"

"In the summer of 1961, the Freedom Riders, a group of mostly young people, both black and white, risked their lives to challenge the system of segregation in interstate travel in the South. The purpose of the rides was "to test the Supreme Court's ruling in Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which declared segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional" (CORE, 2006). In 2001, participants gathered in Jackson, MS to commemorate the fortieth-anniversary of the freedom rides. Of those that attended, forty-two participants were interviewed; those recordings are available in this collection."

Interview from Eyes on the Prize with Freedom Rider, Fred Leonard.

"Interview with James Peck conducted for America, They Loved You Madly, a precursor to Eyes on the Prize. Discussion centers on his participation in the Freedom Rides."

"This interview with civil rights leader James Farmer recalls the Freedom Rides of 1961, when an interracial group rode two buses through the South to test enforcement of recent Supreme Court rulings that banned segregated seating on interstate buses and trains. More than 300 Freedom Riders were arrested and jailed before the Interstate Commerce Commission enforced the rulings."

Conducted by John Dittmer in Arlington, Virginia, 2013-03-17.

"In 1961, a photo of James Zwerg's battered face went around the world after he was severely beaten when the Freedom Rides arrived in Montgomery, Alabama on their crusade to end segregation. This Civil Rights hero joins Jonathon Van Maren to tell his story."

"Mary Jorgensen was a member of the Freedom Riders initiative, taking a bus to the heart of the deep south to protest segregation.
Mary has subsequently founded several organizations including the John Woolman School."

"It was dangerous and daring. Some even considered it a suicide mission. In 1961, courageous Freedom Riders, a group of nonviolent Civil Rights protesters, bravely risked their lives by boarding a bus in Washington, D.C., and heading straight into the segregated south.Original airdate: May 4, 2011 For more on #oprahwinfreyshow, visit http://bit.ly/1ODj0x7 "

"This 1961 recording of spirituals, gospel and new music to "express the spirit of freedom" was the result of an effort by producer and performer Guy Carawan to bring together singers representative of hundreds of thousands African American students from the south participating in sit-ins, stand-ins and freedom rides for "first class citizenship" during the civil rights movement. The songs are performed by The Montgomery Gospel Trio, comprised of three high school girls from Alabama, as well as four seminary students who call themselves "The Nashville Quartet" in an impromtu session as recorded by Moses Asch."