Freedom Riders lead students on journey through civil rights history |
montgomeryadvertiser.com
Ernest "Rip" Patton and Diane Nash were what they both deemed "ordinary
students" at historically black universities in Nashville, Tenn. when
they put themselves on the front lines of the modern civil rights
movement.
In fact, they were likely the same age as many of the Alabama State
University students who filled a campus auditorium Tuesday to learn
about Nash and Patton's role in the 1961 Freedom Rides.
They were testing a U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled state
segregation of interstate travel was unconstitutional. Both participated
in a symposium hosted by the university as part of its Black History
Month observance.
Attendees also got to hear from famed civil rights attorney Solomon Seay
Jr., who along with attorney Fred Gray, worked to secure the release of
Freedom Riders jailed for violating a Montgomery County Circuit judge's
injunction issued the day before they were scheduled to arrive in
Montgomery.
Patton, a Nashville native, was a student at what was then Tennessee A &
I State University (now Tennessee State University). Nash, who was from
Chicago, had not too long ago arrived at Fisk University from Howard
University in Washington, D.C.
Nash said she had an intellectual understanding of segregation, but, as
a Midwesterner, was unprepared for the humiliation caused by Jim Crow
laws.
She said that in downtown Nashville blacks often ate outside along the
curb of a street, because they couldn't eat inside the restaurant or at
the lunch counter where they purchased their food. She started looking
for an organization that would help her do something about the
injustices she witnessed daily.
Patton, who had grown up in the segregated city, was no less affected.
He too sought a way to change things. They both landed in the same
place: the Student Central Committee of the Nashville Christian
Leadership Council.
Through the Rev. James Lawson they were introduced to the non-violent
methods of protest and civil disobedience that Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi
employed and were prepared for the tough road ahead of sit-ins at lunch
counters and later the Freedom Rides.
(2 of 2)
"We practiced demonstrations," said Nash, who would rise to lead the
student committee and coordinate the Freedom Rides from Nashville. "We
certainly didn't know that we would be successful."
May 14, 1961, certainly didn't give them much hope that they would be
successful. One of two buses that had traveled from Washington, D.C.,
was firebombed when it reached Anniston.
The second bus, which went on to Birmingham, was met by a violent mob.
The outbreak of violence nearly put an end to the Freedom Rides, but
Patton and Nash said the determination of the students kept them alive.
"It was clear to me that if we allowed the Freedom Rides to end, then
the message would have been sent that the project could be ended by
inflicting massive violence on the movement," she said.
But they needed the financial assistance of the elder members of their
community who were rightfully concerned about the safety of the
students. The students refused to be deterred from their mission.
"We didn't ask anybody and many of us signed our wills because we knew
there was a possible chance that somebody wasn't coming back," he said.
"We vowed that no matter what happened to the first wave, the second
wave of students from Nashville was coming."
Patton said many students put aside their everyday concerns such as
taking exams to participate in the Freedom Rides. Patton at one point
sacrificed his personal freedom when he was among the riders arrested in
Jackson, Miss. He said they endured it all because they were trained to
do so.
"We were trained in how to take a blow, we were trained on how not to
respond with rebellion when we were being spit on," he said. "We were
well-trained in scriptures and to sing hymns, which confounded our
enemy. That's what got us through."
Nash said she's an opponent of the singling out of such charismatic
leaders in history such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. because it
keeps regular people from taking action.
"It undermines present and future liberation movements," she said. "(The
Freedom Rides) were conducted by ordinary people. Students did
everything."
Seay, who rushed to the aid of the riders who'd been beaten and jailed
in Montgomery, said he and so many like him were at the right time and
the right place to bring down segregation. But he said he's deeply
disturbed by those who believe that the election of the nation's first
black president is the fulfillment of King's dream and the end of the
struggle for civil rights.
"There are a lot of young folks who don't realize that everything isn't
all right," he said.
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http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20110202/NEWS01/102020312/Freedom
+Riders+lead+students+on+journey+through+civil+rights+history
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