April 21st-”Radio Free Dixie”-Chapter 10

Scholarly Source: http://books.google.com/books?id=AeU-m7YHL6oC&dq=books+on+freedom+riders&pg=PP1&ots=bEysRWxV0C&sig=3fWSkRTVaEF7TQ8rbvLeas-lYZ0&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Books+on+Freedom+Riders&btnG=Google+Search&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail#PPA5,M1 (Book-Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice)

Public Discourse: http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/about_king/encyclopedia/freedom_rides.htm

Internet/Electronic Source: http://www.iwfr.org/civilhistory.asp

Reactions/Responses to Chapter 10: In 1961, student activists launched the Freedom Rides which were started to challenge segregation on interstate buses and bus terminals. Riding from Washington, D.C. to Montgomery, Alabama, the rides met violent opposition in the Deep South, garnering extensive media attention and eventually forcing federal intervention from the Kennedy administration.  According to James Forman from the SNCC, Robert Williams became “a figure of growing importance,” who for many appeared to “symbolize the alternative to both tactical nonviolence and nonviolence as a way of life.”  This brought about new supporters and freedom riders from all different towns, states and cities from across the country.  Furthermore, riders wanted the physical presence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., however, the added violence against the riders, King found it to dangerous to actually be present at the rides.  Due to King’s no show, many African Americans began to criticize King for his willingness to offer only moral and financial support but not his physical presence on the rides. In a telegram to King, the President of the Union County NAACP Branch in North Carolina, Robert F. Williams, urged King to “lead by example,” continuing that “If you lack the courage [to ride], remove yourself from the vanguard.”  Many students were not happy with King and as stated by SNCC advisor Ella Baker, the incident caused some students to begin “to look at him as a man, and a man not with all the godlike qualities that had been…attributed to him.”  Despite the drama between the students of the Freedom Rides and Dr. King, the Freedom Rides eventually gained national recognition and helped to bring some stability and attention to the racial inequalities African Americans were subjected to.