Question

Starting in 1961, the Freedom Riders, comprised of African- and white-Americans, protested segregation by getting on Greyhound buses in Washington, DC (where segregation was not part of the law) and riding them into the Southern US states, where segregation prohibited people of different racial groups from riding buses together. In the outtake of the The Freedom Riders documentary, "The Young Witness," we see Janie Forsyth McKinney remembering her childhood experience with the Freedom Riders, and describing the psychology of her community members as "dichotomous." When her community members stop the Freedom Riders' bus and firebomb it, she defied them and brought water to the protesters who were leaving the bus, starting with a woman who reminded her of Pearl, the woman who raised her. How does her community respond?

Select one:

a. They commend her for her sense of rightness and justice.

b. They decide that if she is intellectually disabled (she uses the word "retarded"), they don't need to find that she has done something morally wrong. So they "find" her intellectually disabled, "weak minded."

c. They take her actions as an indication of severe moral failure. They decide to try her as an adult, instead of as a child.

Answer 1

Freedom Riders were groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in Freedom Rides, bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. Freedom Riders tried to use “whites-only” restrooms and lunch counters at bus stations in Alabama, South Carolina and other Southern states. The groups were confronted by arresting police officers—as well as horrific violence from white protestors—along their routes, but also drew international attention to the civil rights movement.The 1961 Freedom Rides sought to test a 1960 decision by the Supreme Court in Boynton v. Virginia that segregation of interstate transportation facilities, including bus terminals, was unconstitutional as well. A big difference between the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation and the 1961 Freedom Rides was the inclusion of women in the later initiative.In both actions, black riders traveled to the Jim Crow South—where segregation continued to occur—and attempted to use whites-only restrooms, lunch counters and waiting rooms.

On May 24, 1961, a group of Freedom Riders departed Montgomery for Jackson, Mississippi. There, several hundred supporters greeted the riders. However, those who attempted to use the whites-only facilities were arrested for trespassing and taken to the maximum-security penitentiary in Parchman, Mississippi.That same day, U.S. Attorney General Kennedy issued a statement urging a “cooling off” period in the face of the growing violence:“A very difficult condition exists now in the states of Mississippi and Alabama. Besides the groups of 'Freedom Riders' traveling through these states, there are curiosity seekers, publicity seekers and others who are seeking to serve their own causes, as well as many persons who are traveling because they must use the interstate carriers to reach their destination.In this confused situation, there is increasingly possibility that innocent persons may be injured. A mob asks no questions.A cooling off period is needed. It would be wise for those traveling through these two Sites to delay their trips until the present state of confusion and danger has passed and an atmosphere of reason and normalcy has been restored.” During the Mississippi hearings, the judge turned and looked at the wall rather than listen to the Freedom Riders’ defense—as had been the case when sit-in participants were arrested for protesting segregated lunch counters in Tennessee. He sentenced the riders to 30 days in jail.Attorneys from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a civil rights organization, appealed the convictions all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reversed them.