Journey of Reconciliation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Journey of Reconciliation was an attempt to challenge segregation laws on interstate buses in the Southern United States, through non-violent direct action.[1][2] It began on the 9th April, 1947, and was the first of the Freedom Rides which would continue into the 1960's heyday of the civil rights movement.
Sixteen men from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) took part, eight white and eight black, including the organisers, George Houser and Bayard Rustin. The states targeted were Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. Although the riders were breaking state laws by travelling desegregated in the buses, they were supported by the 1946 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia, , which removed the requirement for segregation on interstate public transport.
The riders suffered several arrests, notably in North Carolina, where Judge Henry Whitfield showed his particular distaste for the white men involved:
"It's about time you Jews from New York learned that you can't come down her bringing your niggers with you to upset the customs of the South. Just to teach you a lesson, I gave your black boys thirty days [on a chain gang], and I give you ninety."[1]
Whilst the NAACP and Thurgood Marshall had some reservations about the use of direct action, expecting much violence and little progress towards civil rights, the NAACP did offer legal help for those arrested.[1] Bayard Rustin attributes to the Journey of Reconciliation, as well as other actions challenging segregation in these years, to the eventual passing of the 1954 Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated public schools.[2]
[edit] References
 |
This article related to U.S. politics is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
