There is a wonderful account of the first Freedom Riders, who began their protest by integrating lunch counters: "The Children," David Halberstam. One of those heroes was a 17 year old John Lewis.
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It's worth noting - these amazing folks were just kids when showing such admirable courage.
True icons of America, all of them.
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@Trent Yes, as I posted here, Congressman John Lewis was only 17
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These people are true heroes. How many of us would have risked Southern police & jail (& even death) the way they did? We owe them (and others) so much. Thank you, Gloria, Luvaghn, Margaret, Helen, Hank, Carol, Hezekiah, Peter, Reverend LeRoy and reporter Maurice. You represent the best hope for our country.
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What a wonderful article. It reminded me of some posts Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote in his blog for the Atlantic in 2010.
The first entry I could locate is from May 24th, “Toward a Manifested Courage” and features Joan Trumpauer Mulholland - https://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2010/05/toward-a-manifested-courage/57179/
The second from May 26th is “Toward a Manifested Courage, Cont.” and features Hank Thomas - https://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2010/05/toward-a-manifested-courage/57179/
Coates references Eric Etheridge’s blog coverage of the Freedom Riders in this piece.
Mr. Coates’ posts are beautifully written tributes and also a warning against assuming that of course one could stand up and fight for what is right if given the chance.
We are all being given that chance now. I wonder how we will fare?
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Bless them all.
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Many people grow less attractive as they age, but every one of these persons has become a feast for the eyes and the heart. It is morality that makes us beautiful.
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This is a beautiful article.
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They look just like all of us, any of us--our neighbors, the clerk at the tire place, the teller at the bank. They look like people arrested for actual crimes, and they look like the prosecutors and judges.
What can you tell from a person's looks?
What can you tell from a person's actions?
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Two words.... THANK YOU!!
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Now THIS is what greatness looks like.
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Lives well lived. People with good intentions. Remember them.
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Mr. Berger, You missed the opportunity to share one of New York's life long renown artists who not only was a Freedom Rider with her own mug shot, but also is a painter and muralist in New York City who, in the late 1980s, painted the mural An Interracial Journey, based on experiences of slain civil rights workers Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney. Since she began making murals in 1984, Janet Braun-Reinitz has painted between 50 to 60 murals in seven countries, including India, Ghana, England, Georgia, Italy, Nicaragua and the United States. Her 3,300-square-foot mural titled "When Women Pursue Justice" can be found in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.
Through Artmakers, Braun-Reinitz, in collaboration with artist Jane Weissman, co-authored the book "On the Wall: Four Decades of Community Murals in New York City," which includes 150 color photographs of 140 murals painted since 1968. In an interview with "The Brooklyn Rail," Braun-Reinitz said of her inspiration for the book, "The more I paint murals the more I realize how ephemeral they really are. My hope is that now that there's a record of New York City murals through 2007, as they go forward people will continue to document their history." (copied from HWS.edu) She also works with New York schools to bring art education to some of the toughest students believing that art gives them a powerful voice. She lives in Brooklyn.
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Wow. Picture this. Elementary school teachers, middle school teachers, high school teachers, college and grad school professors, all using this piece to teach the power of bravery and commitment to a cause. Look at the ages of the Riders, reminiscent of the young people who have most recently been speaking out against injustice, young people whose voices are now being heard, publicly. Voices that only become audible when children and innocent people are shot and schools become like war zones. This piece is a reminder that young people have been changing the world for so long. It is a reminder that as educators, we can use this to inspire our young people. Teach it in elementary and middle school and you don't have to wait until college to learn the about the bittersweet history of the United States. You won't have to wait until college, like I did, to learn the truth. What moved me the most was when I looked at the captions under each picture. The Riders continued to change lives. I had the benefit of reading this, right after watching the sermon from the Royal Wedding. I am now doubly inspired, intrigued and excited to change the world, one student at a time by telling stories that remind us that agents of change come in all shapes, colors and sizes. Thank you for this beautiful piece. Thank you for reminding me that love and sacrifice will indeed, win.
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Journalism at its best. A picture is worth a thousand words. Thanks.
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True American heroes. Thank you for publishing
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My thanks to the author of this piece.
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Wonderful story and wonderful photos. What courage these young people demonstrated in the face of evil and violence. We need these voices more than ever today.
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Heartfelt thanks to each and every one of the Freedom Riders. None of us are free unless all of us are free.
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Listen to 1964 interviews with 40+ civil rights leaders, including many who were part of the Freedom Rides, here: https://whospeaks.library.vanderbilt.edu/interviews. The interviews were conducted by Robert Penn Warren as research for a 1965 book he published, "Who Speaks for the Negro."
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Thank you for this piece. It's beautiful and made me cry. Truly brave heroes.
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The Freedom Rides was one of the finest moments in American history. Looking at the photos of these heroes who put their lives on the line for freedom makes me wonder where that country went. How could Americans betray the sacrifices that these beautiful young people made?
Every day there is another racist incident brought to the world via cellphones. Black people are being arrested or harassed by the police for falling asleep. Hispanic-American workers are being harassed for speaking Spanish in public.
I wonder if these heroes wonder why they bothered. They thought they were making America a better place. Who knew that a significant number of Americans were waiting for their chance to drag the United States down and make it a country where racists felt safe to spew their poison wherever and whenever they wanted.
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It's not surprising that all of these people went on to serve their communities in some way. They obviously had deep convictions that they developed when they were young and held with them all their lives. Inspiring.
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In contrast, those that harassed the riders would have led lives destroying the good in the country... until the hate is bleached out, it festers like bacteria.
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I moved from Cincinnati, Ohio to Greensboro, NC in the fall of 1992. I have lived in the south ever since. I am a black man who has been clean and sober for 32 years. These people provide a way for me to continue to be of service. Thank you for provide a way for me!
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These heroes were the bravest of the brave. I marched, as did tens of thousands, in support of the civil rights movement. But so what? These folks put their lives on the line. If anybody in the movement was exposed to physical destruction, or serious injury, it was the Freedom Riders. I will never forget the newsreels of the Freedom Riders exiting their Greyhound -- at a bus terminal somewhere in the south -- to be greeted by thugs and brutally, one by one, clubbed to the ground. As the police stood by. And what strikes me so powerfully now as I compare their mug shots with their aged photos is -- these are free people. They are free. The looks on their faces -- the composure and peacefulness -- are looks I have only seen on the faces of people who know what it is to risk everything for a cause greater than themselves. What lies on the other side of that experience -- is freedom. The inner peace that comes only from answering the call and not been found wanting.
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What inspiring young people! And they continued in later years to help make our country better! I'm going to buy a copy of this book today and donate it to my local high school librarian, with a request that the library publicize its availability to students.
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These are role models for people, not the celebrity seekers that make millions off bad behavior and talentless music. Ethics, morality, personal convictions. We all need to go back and study these people and what they did. Please present more articles of this type to counterweight the appalling corruption, scandals, total lack of shame that seemingly is proliferating.
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“Freedom Riders”—what a stirring name. Thanks to all these once young people for their courage and thanks to Eric Etheridge for making sure we don’t forget them. They must be so proud to be able to say, “I was a Freedom Rider.”
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Many of the Freedom Riders, including John Lewis and Stokely Carmichael, were members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), sometimes described as the shock troops of the civil rights movement for their work organizing local communities to defying Jim Crow practices in some of the most dangerous and racist rural counties in the South. By 1966 their experiences led them to abandon the goal of integration and instead issue a then-highly controversial call for racial solidarity and "Black Power" that continues to resonate to this day. A 2014 biography of Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture), "Stokely: A Life" by Peniel Joseph is a readable and illuminating account of those times. I found it very helpful for understanding and putting in to perspective our country's current and continuing difficulties in dealing with race and racism. Another excellent and useful book, published in 1981, is "In Struggle:SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s" by Clayborne Carson. The Freedom Rides were part of an amazing period of rapid social and intellectual change that has useful lessons for today.
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Mr. Etheridge, thanks for commemorating these heroes with a supreme historical, humanistic, and artistic achievement.
Mr. Berger, you speak of "angry mobs of white people", but how is it possible to write this article without using the words "racism", or "racist"? And is "police malfeasance" a euphemism for violent apartheid? I realize this article is a photography review rather than a historical re-telling, but words really do matter.
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We can escape many things but age isn't one.
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I am their age. Beats dying young.
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Thank you times a million to the Freedom Riders. May you all be blessed and thrice blessed for working to bring an end to racism.
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amazing. inspiring. thank you.
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I clicked on this article out of nostalgia for my time as a 19 year old University of Virginia student in the summer of 1965 working on voter registration in North Carolina. I was surprised to see Carol Silver who I met then and who was, if I recall correctly, working with CORE at that time. Definitely a blast from the past. I hope she continues to do well.
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@Condelucanor Carol Ruth is still going strong, at 80, to make the world a better place. She started a Chinese American bi-lingual school in San Francisco, was a county supervisor at the time of the Harvey Milk/George Moscone assassinations (and was herself targeted but fortune kept her away that morning), she has made several trips to Afghanistan bringing computers and schooling to girls, and for her birthday she started a non-profit to continue her foundational belief in Tikkun Olam, the Jewish commandment to repair and restore the world. She's a marvel, and I'm so honored to know her.
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There were giants then...
Ave
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This is REALLY awesome! I love reading their stories and knowing what happened to them after their rides. Thank you NYTimes for presenting these.
I can't think of anything equally heroic in this modern era as the Freedom Riders of the 1960s. True patriots in every sense of the word!
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God Bless them.
Each and every one.
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Incredible pictures.
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Thanks for sharing this. Its always good to honor our heroes.
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Pat who ever thought this up on the back. It's a lovely way to start the day to see these young heroes and noble survivors.
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Stunning. Marvelous. These heroic pioneers deserve the praise and thanks of their fellow citizens. Their courageous acts enobled us as a people and helped redeem our identity as Americans. No doubt many of their compatriots have since departed but how wonderful that they are still here and have thrived. I salute them all and send my expression of everlasting gratitude. Thank you dear brothers and sisters.
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These people are my heroes and inspiration
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I was fortunate to work on this project as a researcher, still perhaps my proudest moment of my career. Eric was first class all the way. The photographs help dignify these heroic people. A beautiful and elegant book, and an important testament to that pivotal point in our nation’s history.
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Wow! So important to know and remember what real heroes and patriots look like.
Although we have a country that has been overrun by thieves and criminals - meaning our so-called not-my-president and his band of incompetent shameless grifters - there is more to our story than that.
The lives of the Freedom Fighters show what intelligence, integrity, patriotism and most of all - sacrifice for what is right - looks like.
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I would never, and would never approve of, spitting at anyone. But these folks deserve more of a wholehearted "thank you for your service, heroes" than anyone who fought in Vietnam. They volunteered, they put their lives on the line, and they did it for the most noble of causes and most truly for their country. Where are the monuments?
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Thank you for this wonderful visual history. Very inspiring for our youth. Stories of hope and resilience.
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I’ve always been in awe of the physical and mental courage of the Freedom Riders. Seeing those very young faces in the mug shots is very moving and inspiring. They are real heroes.
And their beautiful faces many years later are the best testament to saying no to the plastic dullness of cosmetic surgery.
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This was a lovely read and wonderful images. I can't wrap my head around the bravery of such young people. Their lively were literally in danger by doing this and they did it anyway. What inspiring people! And thanks to Eric Etheridge for taking the time to find and photograph these heroes.
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Wonderful to see the photos and read the stories. More please!
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This is a very important article. The final photographs in this article should be reminders that some do not have “now” pictures: They should be the final photographs of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner. Please update.
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Julie:
Hi, thanks for your kind comments.
You can see more portraits and read more stories about the Freedom Riders on my website, link below.
https://breachofpeace.com/blog/
Best
Eric
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