Freedom Rider Speaks At Grace Chapel WINONA LAKE – The work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement was remembered Tuesday during Grace College’s chapel session at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center.
Retired Warsaw teacher Richard Rooker, author of “Buses Are A Comin’: Memoir of a Freedom Rider,” introduced Freedom Rider Charles Person, the topic of Rooker’s book.
Person didn’t want to live under the system his parents and grandparents had been forced to live under by not being allowed to go to the same school as white children and not being allowed to try on clothes at department clothes before purchasing them and other aspects of segregation. He was not allowed to be normal by being allowed to be part of the public, Rooker said. Sixty years ago, it was very unlikely Person would have been invited to a church service or chapel like he was Tuesday.
When Person was a freshman in college, he joined the Atlanta Student Movement. He and thousands of people protested and went to jail, Rooker said. By doing so, Atlanta was eventually desegregated.
Person then joined the Freedom Riders. He was the youngest of the 13 original Freedom Riders. Freedom Riders tested whether people were able to sit anywhere they wanted. At the time, the answer was no.
Person said the Freedom Ride were not an act of civil disobedience. It was a test to see what the level of compliance of the states was for Supreme Court decisions.
During the Freedom Rides, Person said the Riders were prepared for violence in the form of being spit on and have condiments being thrown on them.
On May 4, 1961, the Freedom Riders left Washington, D.C., in two buses and headed to New Orleans. The early part of the ride was uneventful.
In Charlotte, N.C., Person wanted to get his shoes shined “and they wanted to arrest me for that.” The next incident was in Rock Hill, S.C. John Lewis, a future U.S. representative, and another rider, were attacked viscously.
They didn’t have any issues in Georgia as they were allowed to do things like any other rider, Person said. During the Freedom Ride, the Riders took regular buses and paid full fare, but they were normally treated differently.
In Anniston, Ala., the Freedom Riders were attacked by a mob. The Riders continued to Birmingham. The Riders were warned another mob were waiting on them. The Riders were attacked in Birmingham.
Person said he was able to get away, get on another bus for another two blocks and call for someone to come get him. Person was told he needed to see a doctor because he was bleeding. There were three Black doctors in Birmingham and all three refused to treat Person. Person saw a nurse that was in the area.
The Riders decided to fly to New Orleans. There were two bomb threats when the Riders were trying to board their flights.
The Freedom Riders were able to get a bus and leave Alabama. Once they got to Montgomery, Ala., they were severely beaten. There were 200 Ku Klux Klansmen against 27 Riders.
Person said it helped ignite the fight around the country and kids from all around the country wanted to be Freedom Riders. By the end of it, there were 436 Freedom Riders. Half were white, half were black and a quarter were women.
Person said it proved things can be accomplished by working together. There were costs to be paid, but at the end of the process, the Freedom?Riders were successful.
