9781422277775

Riders, “I cain’t understan’ them white boys up there. They can go anywhere they wanna go; they’re white. What they come down here for?” “Well,” replied Farmer, who had once planned to become a Methodist minister, “they believe, as Jesus said, that all men are brothers.” This simple idea was the only weapon that the Freedom Riders had brought to the fight against racial injustice. Their faith in the power of human kinship made them believe they could stand firm against any amount of brutality, hatred, and racism. “Black and white together,” they

A map reprinted in newspapers showing the routes of the 1961 Freedom Rides. Determined to end segregation, hundreds of volunteers followed James Farmer’s dangerous path through the Deep South.

CH A P T E R 1 : P R I S ON E R O F CON S C I E NC E

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