Segregation was based on the institutionalization of racism in the southern states of the United States. These states had official structures that required people from different races to live apart from each other. These states guaranteed their institutionalization of segregation by creating local structures that protected the White upper class and prevented the implementation of federal rules that forbade segregation. Thus, the locals who were not prepared to live within the context of the racist laws of the society had to go to other states to enjoy a life that did not support segregation. There were many forms of demand that were put together by anti-segregationists. These demands did not work well. Numerous marches and protests did not work. It was only when pressure from outside the south was exerted that the federal authorities had to act to change the status quo. One of the dominant groups that ensured that segregation in the south ended was the Freedom Rider movement who moved to the south in large numbers to overtly challenge the practices of segregation in the region.
The purpose of this paper is to identify why freedom riders were the most successful civil rights activists in the 1960s. This will be done by examining the context within which segregation occurred and why the southern states managed to survive without implementing rulings from the federal courts. This will be followed by the examination of the reason why civil rights activists failed to successfully challenge the segregation practices of the south. This leads to the discussion of the reason why the “Freedom Riders” system was formed and how it sought to challenge segregation. From this, the elements of success and results of the Freedom Riders is examined and reviewed in the final section of the essay.
Context of Segregation
Segregation has a long history that goes back to the days of the abolition of slavery. Evidence shows that although America went to war to free its slaves in the south of the United States, White America had no intention of treating African-American and White Americans equally before the law. The idea was to free African-Americans but keep them in a certain class of people. This is because Blacks, Indians and other minorities were deemed as a servant class and they had to be kept from the “perils of liberty” which included strict control and segregation.
In the civil war, southerners did not want to field Black soldiers. Thus, in return for fighting for the Confederate army, the southerners promised African-Americans the right to choose their own political leader. This was the blueprint for segregation. Federal laws after the Civil war sought to eliminate segregation. However, segregation was instituted with a high degree of seriousness in the south.
The segregationists were able to get a landmark victory in the case of Plessy V Ferguson in 1896 when it was agreed that companies could provide “separate but equal” accommodation for Whites and Blacks. This means there was the opportunity to build public schools and institutions that were different and separate. This meant private entities could also choose to provide services for Whites only and not for Blacks. This laid the foundation for segregation. In the first half of the 20th Century, southern USA instituted segregation through the use of Jim Crow laws which led to the intimidation of African-Americans through violence and threats of death.
Reasons for Failure of Civil Rights Activists
In Brown v Board of Education in 1954, the Supreme Court prevented the provision of segregated public services and schools in different states. However, this was a Supreme Court ruling and could not be enforced in the strict sense, except when someone challenged the ruling. This meant that locals in every community had to challenge a racist practice in a court or challenge an institution. However, in a period of Jim Crow Laws and high levels of intimidation, no one could do anything against segregationists.
White Americans in the south did not like the idea of sharecropping which was imposed upon them after they lost the Civil War, so they used various forms of intimidation and shrewd practices to get African-Americans to work for them under conditions similar to slavery. The idea was to ensure that African-Americans were threatened and there were White thugs who threatened them with death for asking for civil rights.
On the other hand, there was an informal message that required people dissatisfied with the Jim Crow Laws to move to the north. This meant that African-Americans who could not take it moved up north to places like New York in record numbers. Civil rights activists in the north had to stay up north.
Cities like New York were highly liberal and they allowed people of all races to mix. In 1946, Irene Morgan in an interstate bus refused to move to the back as the customs demanded and was charged with a misdemeanor. She appealed and the case went to the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that customs of segregation within states could not be enforced on interstate buses, so the charge was not appropriate. This meant that segregation in itself was considered inappropriate in some contexts.
In 1955, in spite of the hostility against African-Americans acting against segregation, Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a White person as per the custom of buses in the south and this was presented to the Supreme Court who stated that the practice is illegal. This was only possible because African-Americans under the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) boycotted the buses in the states in question and there were serious losses for these companies. Hence, there was the need for them to get a ruling.
With the victory in this ruling, the NAACP and its leader, Martin Luther King Jr sought to use civil disobedience to challenge the rules and regulations in the south of the United States that promoted segregation. The Albany Movement was formed in 1961 with the sole aim of protesting and seeking petitions to end segregation in the south of the United States. The protests were faced by stiff opposition and resolute opposition to their claims and demands. This led to divisions between moderate Blacks who believed the challenge of segregation was causing more harm than good and people who believed in African-American civil rights.
Another weakness of the Albany Movement was that it sought to challenge segregation in general and this meant that there was no particular issue that the protestors were asking to change. Thus, there was nothing anyone could specifically do for them. They therefore protested and complained and created awareness of the plight of the African-American in segregation. However, no one could identify what had to be changed. The lack of a definite message meant that nothing could be done to relieve their situation. This is because in political matters, there is often the need for specific issues to be identified. It is only at that point that anything can be changed and adjusted to meet the needs of society.
Thus, the lessons learnt from the Albany movement laid the foundation for Dr. King and various civil rights leaders to adopt a project-management oriented system of civil rights activism. This meant that the leaders of protests had to inquire and demand for specific laws and specific acts to be changed on a case-by-case basis rather than asking for the plight of the African-American to be changed in one single instant.
Reason for the Creation of Freedom Riders
In order to answer the fundamental research question, there is the need to examine what caused the Freedom Riders to come up. Obviously, it is important to look at the broader context in order to deduce the trends and processes that led to the need for change.
The activities of the NAACP gained national prominence when different people around the United States saw the struggle for civil rights. This was something that touched a lot of people and struck cords. In spite of this, there was little anyone could do from outside because most people in the north were far away. Although they said things in support of the civil rights movements, there was little anyone did.
In an attempt to support these civil rights activists, Americans in the north saw an opportunity to help the NAACP for equality. This is because there were different sets of laws for Black people in America and it was necessary the federal government could do more but was doing so little. Thus, people in the north continuously found ways of helping. Dr. King’s message of civil disobedience was popular and people believed that it would be more acceptable and taken seriously if it was multiracial and people from different parts of America could join in and add their voices to claims and requests for change in the south.
Thus, the freedom riders sought to demonstrate their solidarity with the African-American people and Dr. King’s claim. Dr. King declared that the freedom riders will board buses and move to the south of USA with or without police protection to fight and pursue rights for the oppressed. Dr. King made it clear that the freedom riders were peaceful riders and they were coming to the south with no intention of causing violence.
Once in the southern states, these Freedom Riders were intent on mixing with Americans to challenge the traditions and legal customs of the south that were fundamentally based on segregation. Thus, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) began the organization and the idea was to organize sit-ins against segregated lunch counters. This is because the ruling of the US Supreme Court in the case of Boynton that people from outside the state who were passing through the state were free to disregard regulations on segregation and as such, they could ride in buses that were integrated and do things that were not practiced elsewhere. Thus, the Supreme Court sought to promote communitarianism and respect the community rules and principles of the southern states.
However, the unique element of the Freedom Riders was that they were out of state and could do things against segregation. And they could also join forces with local African-Americans who were protesting against the rules of segregation in the southern states. Thus, with that force and the joining of competencies and forces between the Freedom Riders and the locals, awareness could be created, the US Supreme Court and federal authorities would be forced to intervene and this will lead to some kind of compulsory intervention from above.
Thus, from May 4 1961, the buses and rides commenced to move from the northern states into the south. Meanwhile, another variable that added to the effectiveness of the Freedom Riders was the fact that some groups of Ku Klux Klan members and local mobs were willing to attack the Free Riders and cause chaos. This is because they believed that the rides to the south was an affront to the structures of their community and society and there was the need for the community to have its own rules.
The opposition from the local mobs and KKK created another opportunity for the Freedom Riders to become more popular. This is because they announced that they were peaceful. However, they were intent on doing things that would question the segregation rules at a large scale and give a voice to African-American to also protest and ensure that the authorities would be forced to change their laws on segregation.
Ultimately, when they arrived in the south, the KKK members had clashes with some of the groups. They got a lot of media attention from national media houses and global media houses. This attention made the Freedom Riders more popular in the rest of the United States. More young people in search of adventure and people who were not very much convinced about doing anything against segregation could just join in and move to the south to cause chaos and protest. So the number of buses increased and there was a major uproar and this caused more people to act.
The local police had to act and do what they needed to do. However, their activities and their ability to quell the unrest and civil disobedience was not practical. This is because the Free Riders did nothing but stage walk-ins at restaurants that were to be White only. They moved into bathrooms that were for the opposite race and when the police came in and asked questions, they spoke back at the police and asked tough questions.
There were lawyers on standby and they were willing to handle every arrest and conviction because they were willing to publicize any kind of arrest and police brutality. The Freedom Riders were willing to give interviews to press houses to give information about their experiences. This gave attention to the world about what was going on and people became more convinced that the south was wrong. This is because people just did what they do in other parts of the United States and this was just unacceptable.
The essence of the Freedom Riders’ actions was that they exposed private elements and private features of the society that were kept away from the world. They asked questions about why the United States had different attitudes and approaches towards different communities. Hence, there were questions about whether states had the power and right to treat people differently and prevent people from achieving their best goals and obligations in the world.
What caught the attention of the international community is the fact that some of these Freedom Riders were met with violence by the KKK and other extremist groups who considered the Freedom Riders as invaders. This included the fact that there were various outbreaks of violence and being made up of many young people, the Freedom Riders fought back and the world became aware of the situation. Due to this, the United States was literally washing its dirty linens in public and there was the need for some kind of moderation to be achieved.
The US President came to the forefront because nations like the Soviet Union condemned the United States for its racist policies. And in 1961 when the Cold War was at its height, there was a need for America to prove to the world that things were alright. So America’s President had no choice but to intervene. As a self-proclaimed leader of the free world and champion of democracy and human rights, America’s federal authorities had to step into the case to intervene and prevent further violence and further negativity. This therefore pushed the US government to the wall and they had no choice but to take action.
Conclusion
Racism was instituted in southern USA to a deep level. It had linkages and connections to the history of the south and was accepted by the ruling class. Due to this, there was practically no way of dealing with the problem of segregation without external help. As time went on, rules were made that caused segregation rules in southern states to become local community laws. Freedom Riders’ ride brought these issues to the fore and showed they were negative and incompatible with the laws of the United States. The reason why the Freedom Riders achieved the results no one else could achieve was that they were able to bring the struggle of African-Americans in the south to the entire world. They joined forces with the local African-Americans and asked questions that showed that America’s federal authority was not protecting its minorities. The laws that treated people out of state better was questioned and there was the need for consistency. Thus, the Freedom Riders brought the issues and problems with the system to the public forum and made the problem of segregation international. With condemnation from different parts of America and from countries that are traditionally known to be abusive of their citizens’ rights like the USSR in the height of the Cold War, the federal government had to act. This forced the federal government to intervene and make changes. This was something that could not be done by any group. The Freedom Riders sought to gain power through numbers, work with locals, bring out the problems to bear by sharing their experience and continue to use peaceful means to break the laws through civil disobedience. This gave them public sympathy and helped them to force the federal and state governments to change their attitudes to discrimination in the south.
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