By 1961, there were not as many “whites only” lunch counters left in the South. But far too many waiting rooms, bathrooms, and restaurants in bus and train stations still had separate areas for blacks and whites. It didn’t matter that the courts said this was illegal. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke to President Kennedy, but the president did not take quick action to fix the situation.
On May 4, 1961, a group of students boarded two buses in Washington, D.C. They were traveling to the South. At some of the rest stops, the black students sat in the “whites only” waiting rooms. Again, they were staging peaceful protests. In Anniston, Alabama, the tires of one of the buses were shot out. A bomb was thrown in the window of the other bus. As the frightened riders ran out of the bus, they were attacked. The trip was over.
But the students did not give up. More groups rode buses from the North to the South. Again, students were attacked. Many were put in jail. These brave young people became known as “freedom riders.”
One night, a group of freedom riders held a meeting in a church in Montgomery, Alabama, where Martin came to speak. A crowd outside threw stones and bottles at the church. But Martin urged everyone inside to stay strong. Together, they sang the freedom song “We Shall Overcome.” Finally, the angry crowd left.
Was this the end of segregation in these places? No. The bus station in Albany, Georgia, for example, refused to give up a whites-only waiting room. So a man named Dr. W. G. Anderson started a group called the Albany Movement. This group staged sit-ins and boycotts. For months, Martin led marches all over Albany.
Once again, Martin was put in jail. Martin wanted to serve his sentence of forty-five days. After only a couple of days, however, Martin was freed. He had been kicked off buses and out of stores, and now he was being kicked out of jail! Yet after all the marches, and more time in jail, Martin and the rest of the leaders of the Albany Movement were faced with defeat. The segregation laws in Albany remained—at least for the time being. While some people might have given up, Martin looked at the setback as a beginning. His fight would continue. |