The tale of America’s tumultuous racial history is fraught with conflict, fear and violence, as people of color throughout America’s history have had to fight tooth and nail for what freedoms and rights they currently enjoy. To that end, the Freedom Riders of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s were some of the bravest, most courageous activists within this movement, riding interstate buses to challenge the strict segregation laws that had been put in place throughout the Southern United States. In 2011, a group of brave Americans sought to recapture that activist spirit by reenacting their own ‘freedom rides,’ traveling by bus along the routes the original Freedom Riders took. Sarah Cheshire’s essay, “Day 4: My Story” from PBS’s Student Freedom Riders series helps to encapsulate the unique and powerful impact these people had on black history, and the examples they set for equality-minded people of today’s generation.
As in Stanley Nelson’s PBS documentary Freedom Riders, the Student Freedom Riders (including Cheshire) had a long and storied legacy to uphold. Traveling from Washington, D.C. on May 4, 1961, and arriving in New Orleans in May 17, the measure was done in protest of Irene Morgan v Commonwealth of Virginia and Boynton v. Virginia, among other Supreme Court decisions that imposed segregation rules on public transit. By riding in intermixed racial groups on these bus routes, the Freedom Riders sought to challenge these laws and to force people to see that black and whites alike could easily sit together in peace - that they had a right to sit wherever they liked as free Americans.
As a white woman, Sarah Cheshire compares her story to those of the Freedom Riders and civil rights activists, and freely admits, with shame, that her family history is perhaps complicit in the same systems of racism that kept African-Americans oppressed for so long. She notes that “I know my history because I’ve heard prideful stories about it from relatives,” who seemingly focus only on their white landowning ancestor’s power and intelligence, and not the slaves they owned or failed to protect (Cheshire). It is criminal to Cheshire that she does not hear about the minorities who helped to build this country, and of the criminal acts her white ancestors certainly committed against minorities in American history, recognizing her white privilege as something she is hoping to, in some part, address in this Student Freedom Ride.
Cheshire’s essay is particularly touching in the way it allows the reader to experience her tremendous feeling of connection to the 1960s Freedom Riders, and the ways in which their racial impact is felt today. Cheshire is especially touched by the simple presence of her fellow Freedom Riders, all of whom “has a story” (Cheshire). More than anything, Cheshire’s goal in engaging in the Student Freedom Ride is to capture a glimpse of the sense of community and solidarity that the original Freedom Riders likely experienced – the sense of purpose and commonality as they performed a brave act for their people. This is especially poignant considering Cheshire’s desire to learn about civil rights history as a white women with self-professed privilege in America.
Central to Cheshire’s focus on her experience is the importance of stories. One of the biggest takeaways she has from her ride at this point in her journey are the varying tales all the other passengers have – “stories of hardship, stories of strength, stories of bravery, stories of defeat,” and more (Cheshire). Her journey takes her through several accounts of “lynchings and bombings and firehosings” at the International Civil Rights Museum, while she attempts to find some connection between her own story and those of the people who have sacrificed so much to give her the freedoms she has today (Cheshire). While she is enthralled by the stories, sometimes the extreme and grisly nature of these tales forces her to look away, but she rightly surmises that it is important for her to remember this history, even if it is uncomfortable. This is the impact of civil rights activism – to remember the horrors of the past to make sure they cannot be repeated.
In “Day 4: My Story,” Cheshire is deeply touched by the legacy of civil rights she is exploring, while being tremendously aware of her own family’s history within the realm of slavery and racism. The specters of history are a crucial element of Cheshire’s perspective on the journey, reminding the reader that civil rights still has a long way to go. As Cheshire notes, “we are all here because we are grappling with the now, and we all have stories that we bring to this struggle” (Cheshire). This is not to say that her own story is just as important as everyone else’s; however, her own desire to learn, grow, explore and reflect as part of the Student Freedom Ride shows a willingness to become an ally in the fight for civil rights – something the Freedom Riders would have likely admired greatly.
Works Cited
Cheshire, Sarah. “Day 4: My Story.” PBS.org – 2011 Student Freedom Ride. 11 May, 2011.
Web. 1 April 2016. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/2011/2011/05/11/sarah-essay-1/>.
Freedom Riders. Dir. Stanley Nelson. American Experience Films, 2010. PBS.org. Web. 1
April 2016.
