Two people who played major roles in the famous “Freedom Riders” movement during the Civil Rights Era will speak at Beale Memorial Library on Saturday at 2 p.m. to discuss their life-changing experiences.
On Friday, 17 News got a glimpse into their stories.
But first, a little background:
In December 1960, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation in interstate transportation. Nonetheless, a few months later segregation was very much a part of bus stops and bus station restaurants across the Deep South.
In protest, a group of both black and white activists took busses across the south, stopping at the segregated stations along the way and refusing to sit in either “colored only” or “white only” areas.
Those were the Freedom Riders.
In May 1961, the first group of Freedom Riders stopped in Anniston, Alabama while traveling from Washington D.C. to New Orleans.
But, this was not a sightseeing detour or a casual rest stop. The bus tires were slashed and an angry mob reportedly organized by the Klan surrounded the vehicle. Then, someone threw a firebomb through the window, flooding the inside of the bus with flames and smoke.
“And, as they spilled off the bus, I could hear them crying for water,” said Janie Forsyth McKinney, who was just 12 when the Freedom Rider bus rolled into her hometown of Anniston.
McKinney was one of the first to come to the aid of those choking from the smoke. Her actions would earn her the nickname the “Angel of Anniston” and the title of honorary Freedom Rider.
“I remember saying someone needs water. I can do that. That I can do. And, I started taking water to people gasping for and crying for water,” she said.
McKinney was recently featured in a PBS documentary, in a national CBS story, and on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Joining her as one of the Freedom Riders at the Oprah Winfrey Show last May (which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Freedom Riders journey) was Claude Liggins.
Liggins was a 20-year-old college student in California when he heard about the events that had unfolded in Alabama. He decided to go to New Orleans to join the cause and become a Freedom Rider.
"We didn't know if we would ever come back alive, but we were willing to take that chance," he said.
But, a cause such as this is never without its consequences. Liggins, along with several hundred other Freedom Riders, was arrested in Mississippi and jailed for several weeks.
He recalls it being a very intimidating experience. “They took us to the maximum security unit and this was the unit that had the death chambers in it,” he said. “And, on the girl's side they said they could see the chair they would sit people in to execute them.”
51 years removed from those trying times, Liggins, now in his 70s, says he plans to remind people at the Freedom Riders event at Beale Library on Saturday at 2 p.m. that you’re never too young or too old to make a difference.
“Some of the younger [generation] say ‘I really wish I could do something like you did,’” he said. “And, they do have a chance to do something like we did. It’s a little different, but there’s still a lot of problems and we need them to solve them.”
