During May 1961, the line of a freedom song, “the buses are a’ coming, oh, yes,” described the repeated flow of college students from across America who poured into the south in “peaceful” protest of segregated interstate travels. Often met with violence and hostility, they continued until racial travel barriers were broken.
Fifty years later this week, the buses came again to Mississippi, once considered a “hot bed” for racial injustices. This time, these activists of multi-cultural backgrounds convened in Jackson, May 22-26, for the golden reunion anniversary of their historic Freedom Rides.
Dion Diamond was among those reuniting. In 1961, the then-19-year-old Petersburg, Va. native found himself among several Freedom Riders and 1,500 other people who were trapped inside a church in Montgomery, Ala., surrounded by an angry white mob. As seen in Stanley Nelson’s documentary, “The Freedom Riders,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was also inside that church.
Diamond, who now lives in Washington, D.C., said what happened to them in Montgomery did not compare to the “intense fear we had about coming to Mississippi because of its racist reputation.”
At the reunion, he said he was amazed at Mississippi’s progress. “On the ride from downtown at the Marriott Hotel to Tougaloo, I cried,” he said. “I cried when I saw people waving out of their automobiles at the buses. I saw women standing in the doorways of their homes waving. It’s been 50 years, but I’m so appreciative to meet your black mayor, not only the black mayor, and to know as I understand it, the Chief of Police is an African American female.”
Sitting across the table from Diamond was Freedom Rider Rev. Reginald M. Green of Washington, D.C., who was a student at Virginia Union University in 1961. “Having seen the bus that had been firebombed in Alabama is really what got our attention,” Green said. “Making such a decision then, one only had two options: You either do nothing or you got involved.”
In Jackson, Green spent four days in the Hinds County jail before being shipped off to Parchman Penitentiary. “I was knocked back once in the cells, because I had wasted some food,” he said. “Anything to crush our spirits was done. They would blow the fan or the air condition on us at night and turn it off during the day.”
During reunion, the Riders went to Parchman again, but this time as part of a historic tour of the Mississippi Delta.
“I want reporters to make sure that this point is made: the strength [was] not just in our courage to come south to protest, but the strong folks are the ones who remained living here,” Green said. “I’m talking about Mississippians and Alabamians who stayed knowing they were put at-risk just to register to vote. So, they are the ones who need to be given a lot of credit for this thing. They stepped forward.”
On Saturday, May 21, the Hinds County Board of Supervisors and the Jackson City Council had already done just what Green stressed for local Freedom Riders to do. They publicly honored and presented resolutions to several Mississippians for the role they played in the Freedom Ride movement. The recognition took place on historic Lynch Street in front of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) Building near JSU. Those honored were Fred Douglas Clark, Delores Lynch Williams, Mary Lee, Betty Jean Thomas, Thomas Armstrong Peter Stoner and Hezekiah Watkins. Making the presentation were City Council President Frank Bluntson and Hinds County Board of Supervisors President George Smith.
Other reunion highlights included Freedom Trail Markers placed at the Medgar Evers Home Museum and at the site of the old Greyhound Bus Station, an ‘emotional’ interfaith memorial service at Tougaloo College, an intergenerational picnic, “The Parchman Hour” Play, a Legacy Banquet and more. “I am just so happy that so many of the Freedom Riders were able to come back. We stand on their shoulders,” said Rep. Alyce Clark.
The event was a live history class for eighth-graders Omarr Peters and Emberly Patterson of the McComb School District. “I learned it took courage to get on those buses and go through those really hard southern states,” said Peters. “Personally, I thank the Freedom Riders for what they did so I can have a better life. Patterson, who echoed Peters’ comments, also said, “I would like to see young people today launch a movement to stop selling drugs and become more civilized.” Their school district has a curriculum on the Civil Rights Movement for eighth graders. Forty-four of them met the Freedom Riders.
Perhaps Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain NAACP Field Secretary Medgar Evers, said it best. “This seems just right,” said Evers-Williams during the Freedom Trail Dedication of the Medgar Evers Home Museum. “I cannot tell you how moved I am today….I cannot tell you how moved I am to see the Freedom Riders who went to hell to see that today is not only better for ourselves, but also for our children and generations to come.”
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